Unexpected Twist
by Chipmunk24797
Summary: That's right people, the new book to the 'Unexpected' series has just been published! WARNING - contains mentions of SasoDei and Child Abuse, read at your own risk XP ENJOY!
1. Hear Me

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Hi people!**_

_**Oh my God! I'm so excited! The second I finishes Unexpected Curses I was suddenly hit by a huge tidal wave of ideas for a sequel! That's right! Another sequel!**_

_**I know it hasn't been that long since I finished the last book, but I just couldn't wait! I admit that I haven't actually properly finished the first chapter so I'm kinda making it up as I go along, but I have loads of good twists in store for ya!**_

_**Anyway, I would just like to say a special thanks to all the reviewers so far that have helped me to actually keep writing up to this point!**_

_**Hiyashi Yume  
**__**Cookie Krisp  
**__**ninja enchantress  
**__**XXXRoCkInXReBeLXXX  
**__**ToshiroHitsugayagirlfriend  
**__**Priestess-of-Jashin  
**__**Axel-chan2314  
**__**Darcy of Akatsuki  
**__**xxyangxx2006  
**__**10 tailed demon cat dei lover  
**__**Lorna Rox  
**__**Mum  
**__**Sonar  
**__**Shinju  
**__**MoonOfTheNight  
**__**xoannabananaxo  
**__**taran schultz  
**__**Shadow Itachi x ShadowUnknown  
**__**Niamh. Rox. 101  
**__**habu hyuuga  
**__**linxky rex  
**__**Akatsuki4Ever303  
**__**DarkNess of Uchia  
**__**Owen Smyth  
**__**silverlit  
**__**LankunaWolf  
**__**Mitzzi**_

_**YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I feel so happy that so many people read and reviewed my books! Heehee**_

_**Moving on, I just would like to point out that I realize my books have been quite confusing and some parts don't make sense. Well, one of the main reasons I actually decided to write Unexpected Twist is to clear up some things that may not have been explained very well/at all.**_

_**I hope you like and don't forget to review! XP**_

**Chapter 1 - Hear Me**

The sound of fast paced footsteps echoed through the halls as Kabuto rushed frantically to Orochimaru's chambers.

"Damn it... why must you be so damn difficult..." Kabuto mumbled to himself. The silver-haired Shinobi turned the corner and knocked loudly on the snake's door.

"What is it, Kabuto?" Orochimaru casually opened his door and leaned against the door frame, "You don't need to knock so loud,"

Kabuto apologized quickly and gave his reason for being so haste.

The older male's green eyes widened for a split second, "What..." He frowned ever so slightly, "Sasuke! Juugo! Suigetsu! Karin!" As ordered, the team appeared in the blink of an eye, "Scan the area, Zeotora's missing,"

"Yes Master," The group then disappeared and set out on their search party.

"Dinto!"

"Yeah?" The young man had arrived at the scene the moment he heard the panic in Orochimaru's voice.

"You and Kabuto search Zeotora's room for anything that could tell us where she is, and I mean ANYTHING!"

The two males accepted their orders and headed for the missing team member's room.

"Argh..." Orochimaru paced back and forth," Where have you disappeared to this time..."

* * *

"Where the hell is she?" Juugo walked further as he spoke, "We only locked her in her room about half an hour ago, and already she's gone without a trace,"

"You're forgetting that the little bitch is and ex-ANBU captain, do you really expect any less?" Suigetsu commented in a matter-of-factly way. He spoke of Zeotora in such a way because they never really got on that well. Especially since the blonde could pick out the most insults for him when she had her spontaneous episodes. Of course, Zeotora would have to apologize afterwards but Suigetsu and Zeotora would always end up falling out over something/anything else.

The snap of a rather thick twig sounded near by. Karin jumped, "Did you hear that?" The redhead grabbed onto Sasuke's arm and looked around quickly.

"Karin..." Sasuke sighed, "Get off of me..."

"But I have a really bad feeling and I heard something," Karin wasn't usually the one to get scared easily, but since Zeotora started developing her taste for human flesh, she had feared that one day she would be the carnivore's side dish. One time, Zeotora actually snapped at her for interrupting during her 'me time'. Karin still had the deep scar in her leg.

There was a rustle from the surrounding trees, "I heard it that time," Suigetsu looked around for the source of the noise.

"No matter how hard you look..." A voice came out of no where, causing the tiniest wave of fear to run through every member of the small group, "You can't find a needle in a haystack.."

Juugo was taken by surprise as his body was flung against the tree and completely immobilized. Suigetsu totally freaked out as he heard noises all around him, suddenly he was buried in shadows and his head felt like it was about to be crushed by the intense weight of the voices that were creeping into his consciousness.

Sasuke was catapulted directly into the air and the force was so pressuring that he couldn't breathe, his body went completely numb and he felt as if he was being literally ripped apart, piece by piece.

Karin shrieked as she was pulled into the darkness by a pair of cold hand, she silenced and started to tremble with fear, her eyes shaking so much that she wasn't sure if she was actually seeing what she thought she was. Never before had she been so scared in her life

"Night night..." Another scream echoed through the forest , then all was silent once more.

* * *

"What's this?" Dinto lifted the large box out of the wardrobe, "Hmm..." He opened the lid and looked inside at the folded cloaks, "Just her 'rewards',"

"You shouldn't go through other people's personal belongings..." Lightning flashed as the voice spoke again, both Dinto and Kabuto spun round to see Zeotora crouched on the window ledge, the window open and the cold, night wind blowing through Zeotora's, once more, blonde hair.

"Zeo, where have you been? You had everyone really worried!" Kabuto was acting all brotherly again, that's what annoyed Zeotora the most. He would always act like Zeotora didn't matter at all, but then when other people were around he would act like the perfect big brother, as always.

"I needed a walk... you know, to clear my head," Zeotora jumped down form the ledge and brushed herself off, she ran her hand over the fabric of the cloak then put the lid back onto the box and put it into her wardrobe.

"Well, you could of at least told us..."

"Well, I could have, except for the fact that you guys locked me in, and do you know how hard it is to break down a door that thick?" She pointed at the large, oak door, indeed it was thick and extremely strong.

Kabuto half sighed, half laughed, _looks like she's back to normal_.

Zeotora yawned, "Hey Dinto, have ya still got that boy in the kitchen?"

Dinto smirked, "Hungry now, are we?" He let out a slight chuckle, "Yea, scared shitless, just how you like your food,"

"You know me so well, Dinny," Zeotora smiled and headed for the kitchen, she opened the door to see the young boy, sat in the corner, crying with his arms wrapped around his knees.

"Hi... are you scared?" Zeotora slowly walked over to the boy and crouched down beside him, a friendly, warm smile on her face.

"I... I kinda w..was... that man was sc..scary..." The little boy sniffled and tried to calm himself down. Zeotora tilted her head to the side slightly, with a puzzled look in her eyes.

"Who? You mean Dinny? He's a good friend of mine, you don't need to be scared of him... he acts tough but he's really just a wimp..."

The boy laughed a bit, he looked up at the blonde, the tears partially dried, "I suppose... he's not th..that scary.."

Zeotora ruffled the boy's hair and smiled warmly, her smile then dropped as she looked the boy in the eyes, "He's not the one you should be scared of..." Panic suddenly shot through the boy as Zeotora's nails grew into monstrous claws, her canine teeth growing into fangs and her eyes pulsing with luminous red, "I am..." Blood splattered to the floor as Zeotora's claws broke straight through the boy's skull, shattering his bones with hardly any effort, Zeotora let an evil glare crawl across her face as she watched the life drain from the boy, it truly was a beautiful sight in her eyes.

That sudden fear of death, the scent of such a young child believing he was safe, the smell of trust being broken, the feeling of knowing that you have power over those weaker and more ignorant than yourself, such an amazing feeling.

Suddenly, flashes of memories burst into Zeotora's mind. She remembered those two children she had killed, the one little girl she didn't spare on her last mission, the many children from the families that she had assassinated, the many, many families she killed. The Kunoichi was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of guilt. How was it possible for someone to kill children and not feel anything but pleasure?

"Am I really... a monster..." Zeotora frowned, her red eyes filled with sorrow and regret. She pulled her claws out of the boy's skull and gently stroked his cheek, "I'm not that bad... am I?" The blonde sighed as she thought back to all the times she completely ignored other people's feelings and went with what gave her pleasure, "What should I do? I never meant for Kakuzu to fall in love with me, or Deidara... and I don't know why I kissed Hidan... I hurt them all pretty badly, emotionally, I mean," Zeotora knew that the boy couldn't hear her, but it was good to get it off her chest, "I know I probably encouraged most of it... like I'm always so friendly to them, it probably gives off mixed signals... I'm so stupid... I'm always stupid, always making the big mistakes and laughing it off, but... you can't laugh off heartbreak, right?"

Zeotora began subconsciously stroking the boy's dusty blonde hair, it was soft, yet stained and still remained perfectly innocent. The look on the poor child's face was between betrayed and thankful.

"Wait... what's that..." Zeotora lifted the boy's hand and examined the bruises on his wrist, they were dark green and yellow, with rope burns. The Kunoichi rolled up the boy's sleeve to see all the burns and bruises, they were all different shades of green and yellow, but Dinto only found the boy today, how could bruises from today already turn that colour, fresh bruises are blue or purple or a mixture of both, it takes a while for them to turn yellowy green.

Suddenly, realization struck Zeotora, the boy was being abused in the first place... no wonder he was so scared, Zeotora pulled to boy close and wrapped her arms around him, how could someone do such a thing like abusing their child. "But... I'm just as bad..."

_"Please..."_

Zeotora jumped slightly, she was used to hearing voices, but this time she heard the boy's voice, she knew he was dead but she had the feeling he was trying to tell her something, it must have been the physical contact that made her able to hear the boy's last minute thoughts, "What do you want to say..."

_"Please... save my little sister..."_

The voice faded off into nothing as he finished his last wish. Zeotora made a promise to herself and the boy that she would save his sister, even if it cost her life.

* * *

"Mommy please! Please don't!" The little girl begged as her mother walked towards her with a half empty bottle of sake in her hand.

"Shut up you little brat!" The woman lifted her hand and slapped the girl across the face, the tears streaming down the poor girl's cheeks.

"Please mommy.. it hurts..."

"It's meant to, stupid girl!"

The girl's cries were heard throughout the night, by the time her mother had passed out due to the alcohol in her system, the girl was hiding under her bed, singing to herself through the tears.

_"You gotta be out there... you gotta be somewhere...  
__Wherever you are, I'm waiting...  
__'cause there are these nights when I sing myself to sleep...  
__And I'm hoping my dreams bring you close to me  
__Are you listening?"_

The young girl rubbed her eyes and layed down, as she hugged her blanket tightly, the newly formed bruise on her face deepening in purple.

_"Hear me I'm crying out, I'm ready now  
__Turn my world upside down, find me  
__I'm lost inside the crowd  
__It's getting loud  
__I need you to see I'm screaming for you to please...  
__Hear me..."_

She cried out one last tear as she slowly fell asleep, whispering to herself, hoping, praying that someone would hear her, "Brother... be safe.."

*~To be continued~*

_**A/N**_

_**Awwwwwwwwwwwwww! I know, it's so sad!**_

_**Ok, imagine the girl singing with a runny nose and a trembling voice, it's so so so so so sad! Child abuse is wrong!**_

_**Obviously, this chapter is written to the song Hear Me by Kelly Clarkson. I love the song so much! And I really wanted the end of the chapter to make a big impact, so sad!**_

_**I know, you're all like, "OMG NEW BOOK!" Then when you read the chapter, "OMG YOUR SO MEAN!"**_

_**I'm so excited that I'm writing more on this storyline, because I'm becoming seriously attached haha XP**_

_**Right, so don't forget to review and see ya next time! *waves***_

_**xoxoxChelly. Go. Luckyxoxox**_


	2. Involuntary Relations

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Yo!**_

_**Thanks for the reviews everyone and yeah, I know I'm evil for killing that boy. But it has to happen if you want the story to go as planned.**_

_**Anyway, I'm in a writing mood, so I thought I would write chapter 2 now, so, I'll let ya get on with it XP**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**WARNING - This chapter contains child abuse, adult thoughts and slight/not really nudity.**_

**Chapter 2 - Involuntary Relations**

"Hey, Zeo?"

Zeotora was sat on her bedroom floor in only a towel, she had just got out of the shower and was soaking wet. She had out her sewing kit and was fixing up her black outfit.

"Yeah, what is it Kabuto? She replied, not even looking up from her sewing.

Kabuto entered, he averted his dark eyes away from the barely covered up body of his younger sister, "Uh... well, have you seen Sasuke and the rest of his team anywhere? No one has seen them since they went to find you,"

Zeotora paused in her work and looked at her brother, "Sorry, but I haven't seen them anywhere," She then returned to fixing her clothes.

"Right, well... see ya later then," And so Kabuto left the room, rather relieved to be away from his sister.

Zeotora lifted her gaze to the door, a slight evil glint in her red eyes. She then got up and dried herself off, running the soft towel over her half dry, slim, mature body, then ruffling the water out of her long blonde hair.

"Hmpf! damn hair!" The blonde complained as she tried to brush the tangles from her long locks, "Stupid... long... hair... ARGH!" Zeotora was starting to get pissed off, she looked around the room for scissors, but found a kunai first. The Kunoichi started cutting her hair, she didn't like having long hair, but she wanted to try something different than the usual bob cut. Originally her hair was down to her thighs, but by the time she had finished her blonde hair was now just touching the bottom of her shoulder blades, about half way down her back. Zeotora was proud of her work, so she brushed her hair and pulled on a pair of jeans and a black tank top, she then wore a grey and black striped hoodie over it.

After pulling her hair into a loose ponytail and letting her bangs fall over her face, Zeotora grabbed a pre-packed bag and her shoes, then walked down to the main part of the building.

"Hey, she lives!" Dinto commented as Zeotora walked into the room.

"Heh, you cut your hair?" Orochimaru said with his usual smirk across his face.

Zeotora looked at her master and bowed slightly, "Yea, it was getting a bit annoying,"

Orochimaru eyed the bag that Zeotora had over her shoulder, "Are you planning on going somewhere?"

"Uh, yea actually..." The blonde quickly put together an excuse, "I don't want to be rude but I kinda wanted to go hunting myself, Dinto doesn't know what I like anyway, hehe,"

Dinto scowled, Kabuto rolled his eyes and Orochimaru merely smirked wider, "Go on then, but don't be gone to long,"

"Thank you, Master Orochimaru," Zeotora bowed once more, then left.

* * *

"What? You want to go a mission to save some little girl? But why? And why do you want us to get involved?" Pein was confused in the sudden change of Zeotora's once cold heart.

Zeotora took a long sigh, "Yes, I want to save a little girl, the little sister of yesterday's lunch... well, it's a long story but I find out that the little boy was being abused and his last words were 'save my sister' so, I kinda felt really guilty... and..." She looked up at her friends, "Well, I can't take her back to Orochimaru's, now can I? So, I was thinking you guys could look after her,"

"No way," Hidan stood up, "There is no way in hell I'm gonna live down here with some little girl running around!"

"I'm with him on that thought," Kisame commented.

"Kids are the one thing I can't stand," Itachi mumbled quietly.

"Sorry, but I'm no good with kids," Konan said kindly.

"I hate kids," Pein added coldly.

"Me too, un!" Deidara folded his arms crossly.

"TOBI LIKES KIDS!" Everyone glared at Tobi, shutting him up.

"We only like kids if we can eat them..." **"Yeah, but we still don't like kids..."**

"Kids don't like me..."

All eyes turned to Kakuzu.

"They don't, I swear, they're always trying to pull my hair and climb all over me!"

Zeotora blinked, then a soft smile passed her lips, "Zuzu... that means they like you, not the other way round, one question though, do you like kids?"

Kakuzu thought for moment, he looked at Zeotora's pleading eyes then sighed, "Yeah, I guess,"

The rest of the Akatsuki gave a loud groan as Zeotora jumped up and down, "Yay! Thank you Zuzu!" She wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled the side of his neck. Kakuzu blushed like crazy and fell back.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I guess I just got a bit over excited, hehe," Zeotora apologized and helped Kakuzu back up.

"No problem... wait... why are you thanking me again?"

"Oh, well, because everyone else hates kids, you have to look after the little girl for me," Zeotora finished her statement with a wide grin.

Kakuzu sighed once more, "The things I do for you..."

* * *

"Why am I going with you again?" Kakuzu asked, as he walked along side Zeotora.

"Because you have to be one of the people who saves the girl, so she learns to trust you quicker," Zeotora lead the way through the passages, making their way up to the surface. They eventually reached the outside world, causing Kakuzu to squint as the sun light hit him.

"Now that is what I call a bright light," The brunette shielded his eyes and breathed in the sweet fresh air that he hadn't tasted in four years.

"Yeah... oh I almost forgot," The blonde rummaged through her bag and pulled out Kakuzu's cloak and a small box with his ring in it, "I thought you might want these back,"

Kakuzu smiled and put on his cloak then slipped on his ring, "Wow, thanks... wait... why did you only bring mine?"

"Oh, well I kinda already knew that you're the only who likes kids and that you would be the one coming on this mission with me,"

"How?" Kakuzu frowned, he didn't remember ever telling anyone anything about him liking kids.

"Well, remember Dei dei's birthday party? Well, I went through everyone's files... that's how I knew when his birthday was and that Slick could cook, plus I never knew that you used to work at a day-care centre, hehe," Zeotora giggled as she tried to imagine Kakuzu at a day-care centre.

"I didn't know they put THAT in my files," The brunette gave a bored expression and folded his arms, "Wait, do you have my mask?"

Zeotora reached into her bag and pulled out Kakuzu's mask, she handed it to him and watched him put it on, covering most of his face.

"That's better," Kakuzu commented as he turned and started walking again, he then stopped and looked back at Zeotora, "Wait... which way are we going?"

Zeotora giggled slightly, "I'm guessing to the village across the border, that's where Dinto usually gets my meals..." Zeotora started walking, Kakuzu following her. There was a comfortable silence as they walked side-by-side, Kakuzu kept looking over at the blonde female, amazed at how much she had changed.

Her eyes held more wisdom and she looked more mature, her body was curvier and her bust was slightly larger, though Kakuzu tried to direct his eyes away from that area. Zeotora's legs seemed to have become longer and slimmer, plus her arms had been prized with extra muscles, though not much, it was still noticeable. The Kunoichi looked around and made sure they were heading in the right direction as Kakuzu slowed down subconsciously, his eyes lowered ever so slightly, entranced in the slight sway of Zeotora's hips as she walked and her seemingly perfect butt. Suddenly, everything seemed a little too quiet and the comfortableness had changed to a slightly more tense aura.

Kakuzu slowly lifted his eyes up to see Zeotora looking over her shoulder with her eyebrows raised.

"Uhhh..." Kakuzu didn't know what to say, he just stood there blushing.

"If you don't mind... I would rather you didn't stare at my ass," Zeotora then continued walking, Kakuzu following once more, this time keeping his eyes on the path.

"Sorry... I didn't mean to..." Kakuzu mumbled, the blush still across his cheeks, mostly hidden by his mask.

"Don't worry about it... hehe it kinda makes me feel good..." Zeotora blushed herself, while scratching the back of her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I'm around men they're usually trying to run for their lives so they don't exactly think about looking at my ass, and Dinto, Pfft! He's taken, Kabuto's my brother and Orochimaru would rather stare at Sasuke's ass," They both burst out laughing, Zeotora eventually calmed down and continued explaining, "I suppose it's just nice to know that I can attract at least one person,"

Kakuzu grinned beneath his mask, "I can look at your ass again if you want..."

Zeotora's mouth fell open and she turned to look at the brunette, "Oh shut up!" She then hit him jokingly, as they both laughed.

* * *

After a long, tiring journey, they reached the village border. Kakuzu and Zeotora shared a bottle of water, they were planning on going in, saving the girl and leaving again, that way they could get back before Orochimaru started suspecting something.

"Ok, so... we need to find a house with a couple or a single parent and a daughter, roughly about the age of six or younger," Kakuzu nodded and memorized the information, they then entered the village quietly and split up to search for the right place. It was night time by now and most of the households were silent.

A loud thud and crying echoed through the streets, Zeotora turned quickly and followed the crying, Kakuzu headed in the same direction, they both ended up outside the same house. The two nodded to each other and walked up to the building, they looked through the glass and saw a little girl lying on the floor crying, a middle aged woman wobbled slightly as she walked over to the girl and lifted her by her shirt.

"What are you crying for, stupid girl!" The woman smashed a bottle against the wall and dropped the girl back down onto the floor.

"Mommy... please don't hurt me..." The young girl begged, she seemed about five years old.

Zeotora kicked down the door and glared at the woman, she had dusty blonde hair and her lime green eyes were heavily lidded and she reeked of alcohol. The young girl sat up slightly, she had short, messy, jet black hair with a little grey bow clipped to the right side of her bangs. Tears flowed from her bloodwood (redish brown) eyes, the bruise on her cheek was swollen and it matched her one black eye. The dark grey shirt that the girl wore was far too big, it hung loosely around her neck and slipped down one of her shoulders, the sleeves hung off the end of her hands and the bottom of the shirt hung down by her knees, she also wore dirty blue socks.

The girl was extremely cute and looked a lot like her brother.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" The child's mother slurred at the intruders.

Zeotora glared at the woman, "You don't deserve to be a mother..." The Kunoichi marched up to the woman and looked her straight in the eyes, "What kind of a mother would abuse her own children?" She spat at the woman's feet, "Filth,"

Kakuzu watched as Zeotora talked harshly to this woman, her eyes and voice putting forward anger and disbelief at the same time.

The Kunoichi turned and knelt down beside the frightened girl, "Is there anything you want to take with you to your new home?" She asked kindly, warm words flowing from her lips. The black haired girl merely picked up her blanket and looked back up at Zeotora, as if to say 'this is all I need'.

"C'mon then, let's go-"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! SHE'S MINE!" The girl's mother screamed, she lifted her fist and went to hit Zeotora, but Kakuzu stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"Leave her alone..." He said coldly.

Zeotora gave a slight nod of thanks to Kakuzu and lifted the young girl into her arms, "Let's go," The two ninjas then left the house and exited the village. They found a safe place to rest for the night and Kakuzu set up a fire.

Zeotora sat down near the fire and set the girl on her lap.

"I'm Zeotora," Zeotora said slowly, the girl blinked at her and frowned as she tried to repeat the name.

"Ze.. Zetro.. Zeoa.. Zeot... Hmpf!" The girl folded her arms and gave up. Zeotora laughed slightly.

"How about just calling me Zeo,"

The girl smiled and replied, "Auntie Zeo!"

Zeotora giggled, "Yep, and that's Kakuzu, but I call him Zuzu,"

"Uncle Zuzu and Auntie Zeo, hehe," The girl giggled and cleared her throat, "My name's Aza,"

"Nice to meet ya, Aza," Zeotora smiled warmly and then poked Kakuzu in the back.

"Hey!" Kakuzu turned to see why Zeotora poked him.

"Did ya hear what Aza called you? You're Uncle Zuzu now, hehe, take off your mask so she can see your face at least,"

Kakuzu smiled lightly, then frowned, "No, she's not seeing my face,"

"Aw why not? It's just so she knows what you look like, please," Zeotora batted her long eyelashes and looked up at Kakuzu with her big, red eyes.

"Please Uncle Zuzu," Aza stood up and went to sit beside the masked man. Kakuzu shook his head after a moment of hesitance, "Please, please, please, please, please..." The youngster begged, her eyes now wide with excitement.

"Geez, you're worse than Zeotora," Kakuzu joked, earning a slight glare from the blonde, which soon turned into a quiet giggle.

Aza jumped onto Kakuzu's back and climbed up to sit on his shoulders, Zeotora watched in amazement as the girl pulled off the Shinobi's mask before he could react quick enough to stop his face from being revealed.

"Hehe, you snooze you lose!" The black haired girl leaned forward, over Kakuzu's head so she could see his face, though she was upside down, barely holding onto her 'climbing frame'. There was a few seconds of silence before Aza grinned and exclaimed, "Cool! I want your face, stitch things!" She reached out and tries to touch the stitches, but Kakuzu managed to pull her off first.

"Wait until you get to my age, then I'd like to hear you say that," The brunette tickled Aza lightly, causing her to squeal in delight.

Zeotora smiled then stood up and pulled off her jumper, "C'mon, sleepy time,"

Kakuzu stopped tickling Aza and let her catch her breath before the three of them sat, side-by-side, against a tree. Aza snuggled up to her 'Auntie' with the striped jumper wrapped around her for warmth.

"Night night Auntie Zeo, night night Uncle Zuzu," The girl yawned and gently closed her eyes.

"Good night Aza," Zeotora replied, tiredly.

"Sleep tight," Kakuzu finished as they all drifted off into a deep sleep.

*~To be continued~*

_**A/N**_

_**Awwwwwwwwwwwwww! Auntie Zeo and Uncle Zuzu! So cute!**_

_**Admit it! You have to admit Aza is sooooo cute!**_

_**I have to confess I nearly died laughing when I wrote the part when Kakuzu staring at Zeotora's ass XP**_

_**Oh and I'm sorry it took this long to write this chapter, I got kinda stuck, but I'm good now XP**_

_**See ya next time and don't forget to review!**_

_**xoxoxChelly. Go. Luckyxoxox**_


	3. Animal

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Hey peoples!**_

_**Did ya miss me? Of course ya did! XP**_

_**Well, I'm back after a night of partying, dancing and singing way off key ;D**_

_**Thanks for the reviews, my loyal fans *bows***_

_**Recently, I have been obsessed with the song Lucky by Colbie Caillat ft. Jason Mraz, and I didn't know why, so I decided to do the karaoke version of the song and half way through the song, I randomly shouted "OMG THIS SONG REMINDS ME OF KAKUZU AND ZEOTORA!" So now I know why I love the song so much XP**_

_**Oh yeah and later in this chapter, I started listening to Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace, that should explain the later events.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**WARNING - Luvey duvey stuff, a little bit of AWWWWWWWWWWWW! Gore and violence, Kakuzu's adult thoughts and and bit of OMG! NO WAY!**_

**Chapter 3 - Animal**

The next morning was peaceful except for a few birds singing. The two ninjas and their 'niece' asleep against the tree, all snuggled together...

Kakuzu had his arms around Zeotora and Aza, one hand resting upon the Kunoichi's blonde head. Zeotora had her head resting on Kakuzu's shoulder with her arm laying across Aza and her hand on the male's chest. Aza lay between the two, though she was the only one awake. She slowly sat up and carefully climbed out of her protectors' arms, then Aza ran off to chase after little creatures and watch the birds, leaving Zeotora and Kakuzu still asleep in each others' arms.

Zeotora groaned in disapproval of the loss of warmth, she fidgeted in her sleep and wrapped her arms around Kakuzu's waist. The brunette merely stretched and pulled Zeotora closer, his hand slowly stroking Zeotora's hair.

"Hahahahahaha come back birdie!" Aza ran past laughing, chasing after a bird, waking the sleeping ninjas.

The blonde yawned and opened her eyes lazily, blinking slowly, "Huh... oh, morning Zuzu..." She closed her eyes again as Kakuzu slowly woke up.

"Unngh..." Was the brunette's reply, he wasn't a morning person, Kakuzu rubbed his eyes as Aza's squeals woke him up a bit more.

Suddenly, they both froze. Their eyes springing open, they slowly, really slowly, looked at each other.

Within the blink of an eye, Zeotora jumped up and looked away, blush tinting both her and Kakuzu's face. The brunette just sat there, blushing like crazy.

"We should.. uh, start heading back..." Zeotora mumbled, still looking away.

"Yeah... good idea..." Kakuzu replied as he got up, "C'mon Aza, time to go,"

Aza turned and ran back to join Kakuzu and Zeotora, her arms out stretched like a plane. As she came within reach of the male, he grabbed her and lifted her into the air and put her on his shoulders.

The three then started heading back, Aza giggling at the fact that she could reach the tree branches, Kakuzu's mind still fixed on the earlier situation and Zeotora frantically looking around, her eyes darting back and forth, searching the surroundings for nothing in particular, but she seemed rather jumpy.

"Hey, Zeotora, are you ok?" Kakuzu asked, the blonde was acting suspicious.

"Yea, I'm good... just... I think I can smell... something..." Zeotora was continuously looking around, flicking her hair to the side and letting her red eyes scan everything in sight, she suddenly stopped her frantic searching and locked her gaze onto something within the surrounding greenery, "There..."

"What is it?" Kakuzu was starting to worry about his beloved blonde, but then she spun round and locked her gaze on another spot, "Zeotora... what's wrong..."

The Kunoichi narrowed her eyes, then spoke in a half whisper, "It's an ambush..."

As soon as the words fell from her lips, a group of bandits jumped out of the trees and surrounded the three of them, outnumbering them immediately. The bandits grabbed Aza off of Kakuzu's shoulders, the tall male turned and tried to take Aza back, but the other thugs had already managed to restrain his arms.

Zeotora ran over and sliced the rope that was tied around Kakuzu's torso, she then darted into the crowd of bandits and tried to get to Aza, but before she could she was seized by three of the bandits. They pulled her away from Aza and tied her hands together with rope, of course they had a bit of trouble doing this. Before they could tie her up, they needed five more of the larger thugs to hold her down. Plus they had trouble trying to keep Kakuzu from ripping their heads off. It took roughly the same amount of people to keep him down, all the while Aza was freaking out and screaming for her Aunt and Uncle.

Zeotora gave up trying to fight against the bandits, her eyes were slowly getting redder and redder, darting back and forth as she tried to hold back her animal instincts.

_I can't escape this hell  
__So many times I've tried  
__But I'm still caged inside_

"Ah... no... not now..." Zeotora closed her eyes tightly as her canines grew larger, into large fangs and her nails turned into huge claws.

_Somebody get me through this nightmare  
__I can't control myself_

Kakuzu knew what was going to happen, "Aza! Close your eyes! Don't look! No matter what don't open your eyes until I say so!"

Aza obeyed and closed her eyes, fear rippling through her body. Zeotora yelled, which gradually turned into a loud roar, her eyes flung open and she sliced her claws straight through half of the thugs that were holding her down.

_So what if you can see, the darkest side of me  
__No one will ever changed this animal I have become  
__Help me believe, it's not the real me  
__Somebody help me tame this animal_

The brunette watched as his one love destroyed the threat with a single blow. Zeotora ripped them all to shreds, tearing their limbs apart with hardly any effort, she roared again and dug her fangs into her prey, killing him instantly.

If anything had change the most since Kakuzu last spent time with Zeotora, it was how brutally and recklessly she killed. This time she wasn't holding any restraint, she was just killing for the sake of killing. Even after the thugs started giving up and trying to run away, Zeotora kept killing every single one of them.

_I can't escape myself  
__So many times I've lied  
__But there's still rage inside  
__Somebody get me through this nightmare  
__I can't control myself  
__So what if you can see, the darkest side of me  
__No one will ever change this animal I have become  
__Help me believe, it's not the real me  
__Somebody help me tame this animal I have become_

Zeotora continued recklessly destroying the surrounding trees after all the bandits were dead, the demon still wanted more violence, it wanted more death, more rage, more blood.

_Help me believe, it's not the real me  
__Somebody help me tame this animal  
__Somebody help me through this nightmare  
__I can't control myself  
__Somebody wake me from this nightmare  
__I cant escape this hell_

"Zeotora! Snap out of it!" Kakuzu shouted, he didn't want to have to use force, because he knew how much power the demon had. The demon as well as Zeotora was one serious mission to fight against, "Zeotora! Listen to me!"

_So what if you can see, the darkest side of me  
__No one will ever change this animal I have become  
__Help me believe, it's not the real me  
__Somebody help me tame this animal I have become  
__Help me believe, it's not the real me  
__Somebody help me tame this animal  
__This animal I have become..._

Zeotora roared louder this time, Kakuzu had to do something. So he grabbed Zeotora by her upper arms as she growled at him, bearing her fangs. The brunette drew his courage and forcefully locked lips with the possessed Zeotora.

After a few seconds which seemed like years, the blonde's eyes slowly softened and her fangs shrunk back down to normal canines. Her claws, which were dug into Kakuzu's arms, turned back to normal nails. Zeotora blinked, it took a moment for her to realize what was happening.

By the time it actually occurred to her that Kakuzu was kissing her, and I mean full on, lock lips, tongue twisting, kissing her, he had pulled away. The cold air brushing against both ninjas' lips, Zeotora snapped out of her daze and looked at Kakuzu.

A smile tugged at her slightly parted lips and the blush spread across her face, Zeotora then wrapped her arms around Kakuzu's neck and pressed her lips against Kakuzu's, they kissed passionately as Zeotora's and Kakuzu's tongue slid against each other, causing them both to lose their breath, Kakuzu closed his eyes and thought to himself. _This feels like a dream..._

The loud roar made Kakuzu blink quickly, he was still stood in the same spot he was before he grabbed Zeotora, she was still possessed and they weren't kissing. _It was just a... dream?_

The brunette shook his head and shouted to Zeotora, "Damn it Zeotora! Fight it!"

Aza couldn't keep her eyes closed anymore, she cautiously looked up at Zeotora's demon form, she was startled, but not frightened, "Auntie Zeo... Auntie Zeo!" The girl stood up and ran to Zeotora, Kakuzu tried to stop her but before he could Zeotora collapsed.

Kakuzu gently lifted Zeotora in his arms, "C'mon Aza, let's go,"

* * *

"Uuung... what happened..." Zeotora groaned as she woke up.

"You collapsed..." Kakuzu sat down beside Zeotora, "You killed all the bandits, then Aza saw you while you were possessed..."

Zeotora's eyes widened for a split second, "I suppose she would have to see me like that sooner or later..."

"Yeah..." Kakuzu mumbled, he was still rather embarrassed about his daydream earlier, _I'm so glad she can't read my mind..._

Zeotora looked at Kakuzu, "Actually... I kinda can..."

Kakuzu's eyes widened, "You what? Did I say that out loud or-"

"You didn't say it out loud..." Zeotora looked away, "And I know what you were daydreaming about before I collapsed..."

The brunette was completely speechless, this couldn't be happening, could it?

"And I know you were thinking about kissing me..." Zeotora sat forward and put her hand on Kakuzu's shoulder, slowly, she leaned closer and kissed Kakuzu gently. He lifted his hand and ran his fingers through her blonde hair, the kiss was deepened and more passionate, but before he had the chance to savour the moment, he blinked and realized that it was just another daydream.

"Damn it..." He mumbled under his breath.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Zeotora asked.

"Oh, no, no, no, no.. no, I didn't say anything..." Kakuzu stood up and went to leave before he started daydreaming again.

"Oh right... well, I better be off then, look after Aza, I'll be back to see her soon," Zeotora then got up, grabbed her bag and waved goodbye to everyone, then left.

When Zeotora got back to the lair, she casually walked back to her room, left her bag on the floor, then went to tell her master that she had returned. The blonde entered the main room, only to see that Mimi was back from her latest mission.

Of course, Mimi and Dinto were already making out in the corner. Zeotora was used to the pain of seeing this everyday, so she learned to take no notice of them, but this time it was different. Her eyes were fixed on the couple but Zeotora felt absolutely no pain whatsoever. Usually, there was a bearable pain, but now there no pain at all. What could of happened to make it all go away? Zeotora didn't know, but she was going to find out.

"Ah, Zeotora, good to see you back," Orochimaru said, "Did you have a good meal?" He smirked, keeping an eye on Dinto.

"Yeah, actually, best meal I've had in a while," Zeotora lied, she didn't eat anything.

"I can tell," Orochimaru pointed to the corner of his mouth, Zeotora still had some blood on her face. She wiped it away, then headed back to her room.

Later that day, when it was almost night time, Zeotora was walking around her room, doing little things here and there. Dinto knocked on her door and poked his head round the corner.

"Shouldn't you be with Mimi?" Zeotora said coldly.

Dinto merely chuckled, "Shouldn't you be with that Akatsuki guy?"

Zeotora froze, she swallowed then carried on with what she was doing, "What are you talking about? You know they're all dead-"

"You're forgetting that I can literally read you like a book," Dinto smirked, "Thanks to all this training, I can see what you're hiding from everyone,"

Zeotora looked down at the ground.

"So tell me..." The male leaned against the wall and closed the door, "What happened while you were with the old guy? You don't seem jealous of Mimi being with me anymore..."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I was never jealous-"

"Yes you were!"

Zeotora was taken by surprise when she was pinned against the wall, Dinto had one hand wrapped around her wrist, pinning it to the cold stone wall, his other hand around her throat. The blonde had to breathe calmly and slowly in order to be able to breathe at all. The pressure Dinto was putting on her neck wasn't safe, well, Dinto wasn't safe all together, but why was he acting so strange?

"Don't lie to me! I can tell when you lie! What happened to make you not love me anymore?" Dinto put more pressure on Zeotora's neck, his face close to hers, the rage in his green eyes was clearly visible.

"N..nothing... ha..ppened.." Zeotora choked out the words, only angering Dinto more.

"Bitch! I know something happened!" Dinto glared at his childhood friend, "Look at me!"

Zeotora did as told and looked Dinto in the eyes. The black haired male looked deep into the fiery depths of Zeotora's red eyes. His breath hitched slightly as his eyes widened. Dinto's lips slowly took the form of a smirk. He then let go of Zeotora, letting her fall to the floor, choking.

"So, his name's Kakuzu, is it?"

Zeotora felt a strange sensation in her stomach, she covered her mouth with her hand but couldn't hold back the sickly feeling in the back of her throat.

"But you call him Zuzu..." Dinto watched Zeotora as she swallowed back the stomach acid that was slowly rising, "Hmm... So you went to save some little girl with.. _Kakuzu,_"

The blonde quickly got up and ran to the bathroom because she felt like she was going to be sick, she hated this weird feeling.

Dinto smirked, "Oh.. I understand now..." He bent down and whispered in Zeotora's ear, "You don't love me anymore because you love _Kakuzu,_"

Suddenly, the room started to spin, it felt as if butterflies were going crazy in Zeotora's stomach. Then, everything went black just before Zeotora's head made contact with the stone floor.

*~To be continued~*

_**A/N**_

_**Awwwwwwwwwwwwww! Poor Zeotora doesn't feel well! **_

_**Hahaha Kakuzu seriously needs to learn to control his daydreaming!**_

_**Anyway, I'm not going to say much because it might spoil what happens in the next chapter, so don't forget to review and see ya next later!**_

_**xoxoxChelly. Go. Luckyxoxox**_


	4. What Are The Chances?

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Hey guys/gals!**_

_**Here's chapter 4 for ya, specially written to keep my readers, fans and friends curious XP**_

_**Ok, so this chapter was written while listening to a song by Kristina DeBarge called Doesn't Everybody Want To Fall In Love XP I still think it's an awesome song and it's so cute! You have to check it out!**_

_**Anyway, have fun reading XP**_

**Chapter 4 - What Are The Chances?**

_I think that I love him more, more than life itself  
__I know that I'll never find nothing close to him  
__Never gonna stop, I'll love him 'til I drop  
__Ain't never gonna let him go, whoa  
__He drives me so crazy, I so love my baby  
__The way he be making me feel  
__I know you think I'm dead wrong, dead wrong  
__That this should not be going on, going on  
__But how you gonna stop my heart from falling in love?_

Zeotora sat with her back against the door, her knees to her chest and her arms folded over her knees. She was sat there listening to a random CD she had found at the back of her music stack, the blonde was going to take the disk out and put on a different, less depressing, song, but she seemed to like this song and it reminded her of how much she wanted to be with the Akatsuki right now.

_Doesn't everybody wanna fall in love?  
__Doesn't everybody wanna need someone?  
__Remember when you told me that you didn't have no one  
__You would have given anything to have someone  
__So don't hate on me 'cause  
__He's so good to me, he's so sweet to me  
__I know that you don't think I know enough  
__But doesn't everybody wanna fall in love, fall in love_

The blonde stood up and walked over to her wardrobe, she pulled out a pair of denim shorts, a black tank top and her favourite boots. She got changed while listening to the song that she had left on repeat.

_You think that we are too young well give me a break  
__I know when you feel in love, you were seventeen  
__I know you didn't stop when it was getting hot  
__And I know you didn't let go, whoa  
__So how is this different? And why should I listen  
__To you don't know what's in my heart  
__I've been thinking 'bout, you've been thinking 'bout it  
__It don't really matter what they really think about us  
__No, oh no, no, oh no, whoa  
__We can hold a talk forever, as long as you and I are together  
__You don't know what's in my heart  
__I know you think I'm dead wrong, dead wrong  
__That this should not be going on, going on  
__But how you gonna stop my heart from falling in love?  
__Doesn't everybody wanna fall in love?  
__Doesn't everybody wanna need someone?  
__Remember when you told me that you didn't have no one  
__You would have given anything to have someone  
__So don't hate on me 'cause  
__He's so good to me, he's so sweet to me  
__I know that you don't think I know enough  
__But doesn't everybody wanna fall in love, fall in love, fall in love, fall in love  
__Fall in love..._

"Oi Zeotora!" Dinto entered the girl's room, luckily, Zeotora was already dressed by this time, "Orochi-sama wants to see you, or should I say _hear_ you,"

Zeotora nodded and walked with Dinto to Orochimaru's chambers, there was an awkward silence as they walked together, though neither of them particularly wanted to talk. The comrades reached their destination, so Zeotora knocked on the door and entered, as Dinto walked on, going to join Mimi.

"Ah, Zeotora... today I was thinking, maybe something different," The snake spoke as he referred to the choice of song, "Maybe... this one,"

Orochimaru held out a piece of paper, Zeotora took it and unfolded the page to reveal the lyrics to a song.

"Why this song in particular?" The blonde asked curiously.

"Oh, Dinto said he heard you singing it the other day, I just wanted to hear you myself," He replied.

_Damn you, Dinto..._

The Kunoichi went and stood beside the snake, then she began singing out the lyrics from the page.

_"The whispers in the morning, of lovers sleeping tight  
__Are rolling by like thunder now, as I look in your eyes  
__I hold on to your body, and feel each move you make  
__Your voice is warm and tender, a love that I could not forsake,"_

Zeotora blinked back the stinging sensation in her eyes as she continued to sing out the song that was so full of emotions that were so hard to say, yet so easy to sing.

_"'Cause I'm your lady, and you are my man  
__Whenever you reach for me, I'll do all that I can  
__Lost is how I'm feeling, laying in your arms  
__When the world outside's too much to take, that all ends when with you  
__Even though there may be times, it seems I'm far away  
__Never wonder where I am, 'cause I am always by your side,"_

Her voice seemed to scratch at her throat as her vision became slightly blurred, the tears building up. Why was Dinto so cruel? Why must he make things worse? Even though Zeotora was starting to get choked up, she kept singing.

_"'Cause I'm your lady, and you are my man  
__Whenever you reach for me, I'll do all that I can  
__We're heading for something, somewhere I've never been  
__Sometimes I am frightened but I'm to learn  
__Of the power of love,"_

It seemed that the more Zeotora sang, the more she felt, the more it hurt and it felt as if everything was suddenly so impossible. The words that she sang felt as if they were written especially for this very situation, oh how she wished she could scream how she felt from the rooftops. Why did love hurt so much?

_"The sound of your heart beating, made it clear suddenly  
__The feeling that I can't go on, is light-years away...!"_

Zeotora belted out the long note with all her heart, forgetting how her voice was near breaking and her cheeks were stained with tears. Never before had she been to dedicated to a song, and I mean never.

_"'Cause I'm your lady, and you are my man  
__Whenever you reach for me, I'm gonna do all that I can  
__We're heading for something, somewhere I've never been  
__Sometimes I am frightened but I'm ready to learn  
__Of the power of love,"_

The Kunoichi finished singing just as her voice shuddered through the tears. A warm, emotional smile slowly spread across Zeotora's face.

"Zeotora? Why are you crying?" Orochimaru asked, though he only did so out of curiosity and nothing more.

"I.. I need a minute to myself..." The girl half whispered before dropping the sheet of paper and running out the door, heading towards the familiar underground tunnels.

The blonde ran through the passages and skidded to a halt as she reached the main area where the Akatsuki were gathered around a fire. Zeotora suddenly felt her stomach twist and turn as she looked over and saw Kakuzu sat on the floor, holding Aza up as she stood on her tip-toes, trying her best to be a ballerina. Aza was also wearing the brunette's mask, giggling under the fabric.

The Kunoichi took a deep breath, swallowed her pride and walked over to Kakuzu and Aza, the young girl saw the blonde heading towards them and started jumping about, "Look! It's Auntie Zeo!"

"Huh?" Kakuzu turned to see Zeotora sit down beside them, crossing her legs and smiling shakily, "Oh, hi Zeotora..." Aza soon calmed down and rested on Kakuzu's knee.

"Look Zuzu... there's something I need to say..."

Kakuzu nodded and gave the blonde his attention.

The girl hesitated, "Well... I... uh... umm... well..." She stuttered, unsure of how to phrase her confession, a minute ago it seemed so easy, but now that she was actually face to face with him, it was almost impossible, "Ok... I have to con-.. -ess.. -at I... -you..." Zeotora frowned, _what happened?_ She tried again, " I said- .. -t ... -ove..." _What the..._

"What?" Kakuzu didn't understand what Zeotora was saying, "You're not making any sense,"

Zeotora tried once more, this time she couldn't even utter a single letter.

Her voice was GONE!

The blonde pointed to her throat and tried to say that her voice was gone, mouthing the words slowly.

"Auntie Zeo's voice is gone," Aza said, pointing to Zeotora, explaining to Kakuzu what the blonde was trying to say.

"Oh..." The brunette said quietly, ashamed that a five year old figured it out before he did.

Zeotora mouthed something else.

"Auntie Zeo says, cheer up Zuzu it was only a one off," The child said, passing on the message she was given.

The Kunoichi blew her bangs out of her face and started talking t herself, only without the actual sound. Aza watched Zeotora, she waited until she was finished then repeated what the older female had said, "She said, how damn annoying is it that my voice went just as I was about to confess that I lo-"

Zeotora quickly covered Aza's mouth, she forgot that Aza understood what she was miming and the young girl thought she was meant to translate everything, _Phew... that was close... _Zeotora removed her hand and got up.

A few seconds ticked by while Zeotora fiddled with her hair, Kakuzu looked at the ground and Aza frowned as she thought about the words she wasn't meant to say.

Aza grinned as soon as she understood the words, she then tugged on Kakuzu's shirt to get his attention, "Auntie Zeo was going to say that she loves you, Uncle Zuzu," The black haired girl said quickly before Zeotora had the chance to stop her.

Kakuzu's jaw almost literally hit the ground, his eyes wide with disbelief but before he could comment on the sudden confession, a familiar voice was heard from the entrance of the tunnel.

"Ah... so the Akatsuki aren't dead after all, I should have known..." The snake smirked wide as Sasuke, Juugo, Karin and Suigetsu appeared beside him.

*~To be continued~*

_**A/N**_

_**Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Poor Zeotora!**_

_**First, she's listening to a cute love song, then, she's forced to sing The Power Of Love by Celine Dion, then, her voice disappears, Aza tells Kakuzu the truth about how Zeotora feels, and after all this, Orochimaru finds out that the Akatsuki aren't dead!**_

_**What are the chances of that? I know, I know, I'm evil...**_

_**Well don't forget to review and thanks for reading XP**_

_**See ya!**_

_**xoxoxChelly. Go. Luckyxoxox**_


	5. Dream

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Hey people!**_

_**Right, so I suddenly got the urge to hurt a few people, in more ways than one...**_

_**Oh yeah and I was listening to He Loves You Not by Dream, which explains the kinda badass attitude halfway through this chapter XP**_

_**Plus, near the end of this chapter there's lyrics from the song Dream by Priscilla Ahn, it's a really cute song and I think it really fits Zeotora in so many ways.**_

_**All boys that might be reading this will probably cringe at certain parts of this story, girls will probably laugh or go "Ooh... that gotta hurt.." and I think all people will be amazed at what they read...**_

_**WARNING - Swearing, a little bit of violence, heartbreak and Oh. My. God.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**PS - Cry fest ahead, it's complete and extreme, intense, raw emotion, you've been warned.**_

**Chapter 5 - Dream**

Kakuzu's head flung to the side as Dinto's fist slammed straight into his jaw.

The brunette slowly turned and looked into the younger male's green eyes, he could see anger, jealousy, greed and bitterness. Kakuzu grabbed Dinto's shirt and flipped him over, causing him to land flat on his back, winding him temporarily.

"Damn you, Dit.. Din... uhhh..." Aza tried her hardest to repeat what Zeotora was saying, but she couldn't quite pronounce a name she hadn't heard before, "Umm.. Din... Dinto? That's it. Damn you, Dinto!"

The said male suddenly burst out laughing, "Oh my God, it worked! I knew your voice was almost gone, but I didn't actually think that making you sing that long note would actually make your voice literally disappear!" Dinto laughed more as he sat up, "I'm guessing that the girl is your translator... Hahaha!" Dinto was caught off guard as a set of teeth suddenly dug into his arm, "AH FUCK! YOU LITTLE COW!"

It took everyone by surprise when they saw that it was Aza who had bitten Dinto.

"Get off!" The male freaked out and tried to pry Aza's teeth from his arm, it hurt like hell. Eventually, the girl let go and glared up at the young man.

"No one hurts my Uncle Zuzu!" The girl shouted at Dinto, blood dripping from her teeth. Dinto looked down at his arm only to see a deep bite mark, blood pouring from the injury.

"Shit..." He half whispered as he examined the wound, noticing how deep it was, "God, she's got some bite..."

Suddenly, Hidan slammed his fist into the back of Dinto's head, knocking him over, "It's JASHIN! Get it right, bitch!" Almost the instant before Dinto touched the ground, he disappeared into thin air, "What the..." The Jashinist was suddenly pushed out of the way by Zeotora as she slammed her knee into Dinto's stomach just as he reappeared behind Hidan.

The blonde glared at Dinto, giving him a silent warning. Dinto, of course, ignored this warning. He grabbed both Zeotora's wrists and moved his foot under hers, causing her to lose her balance. Zeotora silently growled and twisted Dinto's arm round until he had his back to her and his arm pressed tightly against his back, the male then grabbed Zeotora's free arm and forced her to flip over, luckily, she landed on her feet then she brought her knee up between Dinto's legs, making direct contact with his 'pride and jewels'.

Almost every man in the room flinched and looked away at this point, they could practically feel how hard she kneed him.

"Zeotora! Control yourself! You're meant to be on our side!" Kabuto scolded his sister as she glared down at Dinto, who now lay, curled up, on the ground groaning in pain.

The blonde turned and mouthed out what she wanted to say, then Aza translated, "Oh shut up! I chose who's side I was on a long time ago, I'm going to stick to my choice,"

Kabuto looked to Orochimaru to see what his reaction would be, "Very well..." The snake finally commented, he looked over to Sasuke and his team, signalling for them to attack.

Just as the team were about to lunge forward, a familiar ginger haired girl jumped in front of them, "Wait... this is my fight..." Mimi smiled sweetly and fluttered her eyelashes, "You ok, baby?" She asked referring to Dinto, who replied with a groan of discomfort, "You know... you're not meant to kick people in their privates..." The girl tutted as she slowly stepped closer.

"Back off Mimi, this doesn't concern you..." Aza said as Zeotora glared at her enemy.

After a few seconds of silence, Mimi shrugged and spoke again, "Oh really... well, I think it does concern me because he's my boyfriend.. and you hurt him... so that means I get to hurt you..."

"Oh no you don't," Kakuzu stood beside Zeotora, a defensive gleam in his motley eyes.

"Ooh... scary..." Mimi said sarcastically. Suddenly her eyes flashed with an evil idea that popped into her head, "Oh wow..." She said in a cute voice, "I like your eyes..." Mimi twirled her ginger hair around her finger and she fluttered her eyelashes again, smiling cutely, a slight flirtatious giggle passing her lips.

Zeotora's eyes widened, she quickly looked at Kakuzu who was feeling uncomfortable as a slight blush stained his cheeks, no one ever made comments about his eyes, especially comments about LIKING his eyes.

"In fact... I really like your eyes... they're just so... amazing~" The ginger giggled again as she hesitantly stepped closer to the brunette, her eyes sparkling with cuteness, blush across her face along side her flirtatious smile.

Everyone in the room froze, they watched with amazement as Mimi flirted with Kakuzu and the brunette just stood there blushing. Even Dinto had stopped groaning to see his girlfriend giggling and twirling her hair, Zeotora flooded with rage and temptation to kill Mimi.

"Hehe... oh wow... you shouldn't wear your mask all the time, it does you no good, trust me, you're better off when everyone can see your amazingly manly face..."

Kakuzu just blushed more as Zeotora gritted her teeth and held her hands in tight fists. The blonde's blood was boiling now, she hated every second of this, but she didn't want to seem overly protective.

Another flirtatious giggle escaped Mimi's lips as she flicked her hair behind her ear, "I bet you're a great kisser too~"

BOOM!

Mimi was sent flying into the wall, blood pouring from the side of her head, blood dribbling from her nose, and a bruise on the side of her head where it made contact with the wall. Everyone's eyes were drawn to Zeotora, her hair was ragged and a brighter blonde, her nails were large claws and her fangs had grown in a split second. Mimi's blood was dripping from Zeotora's grazed knuckles, and the red glow of her eyes shone in the poor light of the fire.

"Geez Zeotora... what's your problem, I was only talking to him..." Mimi informed innocently as she picked herself off of the ground.

The blonde narrowed her eyes at Mimi, then walked over and slapped her hard across the face. _If that's what you call just talking, I'd like what you call flirting..._

"You... bitch..." Mimi glared at Zeotora then slapped her back, causing a red slap mark to slowly form on both of the girls' cheeks.

Zeotora gave the ginger a look that practically spat poison, she tilted her head back so she was looking down on Mimi, a glint in her eyes that both the Akatsuki and the Sound-nin knew only too well.

_You're pulling petals off a flower trying to get your way  
__Keep pulling until it says what you wanna say  
__Girl, you can pick a field full of daises  
__But he'd still be my baby  
__And I know you can't wait until I'm away from him  
__Instinctively, I know what you're thinking  
__You'll be giving him an open invitation  
__But my baby won't be taken in, no_

There was silence in the room before Mimi let a smirk crawl across her face, she took a slow step to the side, and then another as she made her way over to Kakuzu, Zeotora watching like a hawk. _She wouldn't..._

Suddenly, Zeotora saw what Mimi was going to do, she darted at the ginger. But before she could stop her, Mimi dashed out of Zeotora's reach and ran for Kakuzu, she crashed into him, knocking them to the ground, Mimi on top of Kakuzu.

_You can pout your cherry lips  
__Try to tempt him with a sweet kiss  
__You can flut your pretty eyes  
__He ain't got his hands tied  
__You're the kinda girl who's always up for two a day  
__Only want him just 'cause he's there  
__Always looking for a new ride  
__The grass is greener on the other side  
__You're the kinda girl who's not used to hearing no  
__All your lovers try to take you where you wanna go  
__Doesn't matter how hard you try  
__You're never gonna get with my guy_

Kakuzu didn't have any time to react before he felt Mimi's lips on his own pair, the taste of her cherry lip-gloss making it's way into his mouth. Suddenly, Mimi was ripped off of Kakuzu. The brunette sat up quickly to see Zeotora and Mimi brutally trying to rip out each others' hair.

Meanwhile, Suigetsu was battling head-to-head with Hidan. Suigetsu had started commenting on how evil Zeotora really is, Hidan argued that the blonde isn't that bad and that she's just possessed by a demon, then the argument got a bit more drastic, and by drastic I mean shouting, swearing, violence... So now they were full-scale fighting.

Orochimaru sighed and let the other team members go off and engage in their own battles.

"Ah! My hair!" Mimi squealed as Zeotora ripped out a chunk of ginger hair, the said female brought her knee up and slammed it into Zeotora's stomach, causing the blonde to cough up blood.

The two girls jumped to their feet. Zeotora was the first to attack, she swung her leg at Mimi, only resulting in a kunai being jabbed into her thigh, and a knee in her back.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, Zeotora," Mimi grabbed Zeotora's hair in her hand and pulled down forcefully, causing Zeotora to silently curse at her enemy, "Haha, you're getting weak- Ah! Bitch!" The ginger took back her words as Zeotora grabbed Mimi's upper arms and slammed her into the wall, Mimi responded by swinging her arm and scratching Zeotora across her shoulder, leaving claw-like slices.

The two girls were still fighting, punching, slapping, biting, kicking and pretty much just beating each other to a pulp. Mimi reached down and pulled out a kunai, driving it towards Zeotora. The blonde jumped back just as the weapon sliced across her collarbone, if Zeotora had her voice she would have cursed loudly and/or cry out in pain.

* * *

By now, the entire underground hideout was filled with riot, fights all over the place and blood splattering everywhere. Shouts and arguing was all that could be heard alongside the clash of metal weapons and the painful thump of the hard punches thrown at each other.

Suddenly, everything started to shake as Juugo swung his morphed fist at Kakuzu, the brunette dodging out of the way making the giant hammer slam into the wall. Small pebble sized rocks fell down from the ceiling, though it didn't really get anyone's attention because they were used to fighting in places like these, but as larger rocks started falling down, Zeotora's eyes darted across the scene.

Mimi was about to kick the blonde in the head but then she saw it too. There was a huge crack across the ceiling and it was going to come down any second now. And like a cruel twist of fate, Kakuzu and Juugo were stood fighting right underneath it, too busy trying to kill each other that they didn't notice how much danger they were in.

Like the evil cow she was, Mimi grabbed Zeotora and held her back, intending to force her to watch the cruel death of the man she cared about.

The area around the crack started to crumble, throwing down more rocks. Zeotora tried to shout but she couldn't even make a single sound, she kept trying, despite how impossible it was. The blonde sent what was left of her chakra to her throat, just enough to guide her voice into sound.

Then the entire ceiling came down in big chunks, Zeotora grabbed Mimi's wrist and ran towards Kakuzu and Juugo, pulling the ginger behind her.

"KAKUZU! MOVE!" She shouted as loud as her voice could allow, but instead of moving the brunette just looked up to see why, his eyes widening. The blonde used all the energy she had to push Kakuzu out of the way while still holding Mimi in place.

The brunette fell to the ground as the giant boulder came crashing down on top of both Zeotora and Mimi.

"ZEOTORA!" Kakuzu shrieked, he couldn't believe his eyes. Did that just happen? Maybe he was just dreaming again. But no matter how hard he thought up explanations, it did happen.

"No... Twinkle!" Hidan ran to the other side of the large rock and knelt down, "Kakuzu! Get over here!"

As called, Kakuzu ran to where the Jashinist was. Zeotora was laying down, the boulder crushing most of her body, the only parts of her body that weren't under the huge rock was her head and her right arm.

"Z..zuzu... Sli..ck..." Zeotora weakly opened her eyes and looked up at the two males.

"Zeotora... why did you do that?" Kakuzu asked while trying to show no tears.

A small smile gently crossed Zeotora's face, "Bec..ause... if I didn't... Mimi would b..be alive... an..d you wouldn't be..."

Kakuzu's eyes filled with tears as he gave a smile of silent thanks.

"Looks l..like it's all... fin..ally over..." Zeotora closed her eyes gently, then opened them again, "I'll m..miss you... a lot..."

"You can't die..." Kakuzu argued, "You just can't! You always make it out alive, you always win! This isn't how it's meant to go!" The brunette closed his eyes as the tears slowly began to fall, "You're not supposed to die..."

Zeotora weakly lifted her hand up and cupped Kakuzu's cheek, "I know... b..but... I'd rather you sur..vive than me..." A crystal tear rolled down the blonde's pale face, "I love you... with a..all my hea..rt..."

Kakuzu wiped his eyes and leaned down to placed one final kiss upon the lips of his first and only love.

_I was a little girl, alone in my little world  
__Who dreamed of a little home for me  
__I played pretend between the trees  
__And fed my house guests bark and leaves  
__And laughed in my pretty bed of green  
__I had a dream  
__That I could fly from the highest swing  
__I had a dream_

A kiss of true passion, true feelings, true love... the kiss they shared was the bond between them strengthened, the trust forever more, the love forever there, the promise of security was all but gone. In each others' love, they were safe. A short lived safe in which they would never be together again. The first time both of them accepted their feelings, and yet the last time it was even possible, for Zeotora was slowly fading.

_Long walks in the dark  
__Through woods grown behind the park  
__I asked God who I'm supposed to be  
__The stars smiled down on me  
__God answered in silent reverie  
__I said a prayer and fell asleep  
__I had a dream  
__That I could fly from the highest tree  
__I had a dream_

The taste of cold blood spilled into Kakuzu's mouth, he slowly sat up. Zeotora's heart was no longer beating, though her love lived on. The brunette closed Zeotora's eyes and wiped the blood from his own mouth, nothing scarred him more than the taste of Zeotora's blood in his mouth.

_Now I'm old and feeling grey  
__I don't know what's left to say  
__About this life I'm willing to leave  
__I've lived it full and I lived it well  
__There's many tales I've lived to tell  
__I'm ready now, I'm ready now, I'm ready now to fly  
__From the highest wing  
__I had a dream..._

*~To Be Continued~*

_**A/N**_

_**Awwwwww! Such a cute way to die! And yes, Zeotora really is dead, it's sad but it's true :'(**_

_**Anyway, thanks for the reviews and sorry it took so long to write this chapter, I had a major writer's block, it was driving me CRAZY!**_

_**Ok, so the next chapter is a Christmas Special XP so it won't be published until Christmas time, it's a really special chapter and it's going to be longer than usual, plus there's a little twist so you have to wait XP**_

_**Thanks for reading XP**_

_**See ya next month!**_

_**xoxoxChelly. Go. Luckyxoxox**_


	6. Christmas Special

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Hey guys! Merry Christmas!**_

_**As you all know, it's Christmas Eve... and as I promised, here's a Christmas Special!**_

_**And yes, it does count as a chapter, it's not just a filler for some random occasion, it's actually part of the story.**_

_**Thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy my attempt at a seasonal celebration!**_

_**By the way, this chapter starts on a kinds sad note, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make this chapter all happy and Christmassy! I guess I'm only good at sad stuff... Oh well.. I tried...**_

_**Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 6 - Christmas Special**

She was dead... dead and gone... Zeotora was no more...

Kakuzu sat on the ground outside, looking down at the ground, it was the day after Zeotora's funeral-type send off. And no one felt more pain than the heart-broken man who would easily swap places with the love of his life who died so young and so heroically. But Christmas was coming soon and the world kept moving, even with the loss of such an important figure in so many lives.

Everyone was quiet for the next few weeks, they kept themselves to themselves again, no one spoke to one another, they just got on with each day, carefully staying away from the particularly snappy brunette. The said brunette was sat in his room, dwelling upon his thoughts, silently wishing it was his life that was lost that day. The Akatsuki had moved back into their old building until they could find somewhere else to stay. A certain young brown-eyed girl slowly pushed open the door and walked over to Kakuzu.

"Uncle Zuzu..." Aza said quietly as she sat down beside the older man that she looked up to as her uncle, "Why are you so sad..."

Kakuzu chose his words carefully, "Because the most important person in my life is... d..dead..." The brunette put his hands over his face and gently let the tears fall from his motley eyes.

Aza stood up on the bed and placed her hand on Kakuzu's arm, she layed her head against him and blinked slowly, "Don't cry Uncle Zuzu.. she's not gone completely..." The young girl tugged at Kakuzu's sleeve and pointed to the window, "You can see her if you try hard enough..."

"No Aza," Kakuzu wiped his eyes and solemnly looked at the child, "She's dead and there's nothing we can do about it... we just have to move on," Aza frowned slightly at her guardian, "Oh, no, Aza, I didn't..." The black-haired girl looked down as the upset was clear in her eyes, "Don't start crying, please don't,"

"Auntie Zeo would always want to believe that you were still there watching over her if you were the one that died..." With those cold words, the wise young five year old jumped down from the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Completely surprised by the honest words of such a young person, Kakuzu thought coldly as he came to the conclusion that she was right, Zeotora would have looked to the bright side and let her heart tell her that he would always watch over her through thick and thin.

For the next few days, Aza completely ignored Kakuzu, his actions had upset her and she decided to show him by giving him the silent treatment. (And if you're wondering how a five year old learnt how to be so smart with social situations, all is explained later on in the story.)

The girl was sat in the main living area, crossed-legged she picked up the red crayon and carefully drew any random thing that came into her head. Kakuzu walked into the room, took a breath and went to sit beside his 'niece'. Aza, of course, just continued drawing, pretending that Kakuzu wasn't there.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that,"

Aza continued to ignore the brunette.

"You were right, she probably is up there, looking down on us right now,"

Though she wanted to correct the miser, Aza held her tongue and continued to draw her picture.

Kakuzu sighed and stood up, "Fine... be that way..." He then slowly walked away, another plan in his mind, but was he willing to give up that much?

-x-

"Here ya go!"

Aza stared, rather surprised at the large object that was wrapped in shiny, red wrapping paper, with a big bow attached to the top. She frowned then looked up at Kakuzu.

"Open it,"

"But it's not Christmas until tomorrow..." The young girl muttered quietly, "And I've never had a present before..."

Kakuzu knelt down beside Aza and turned her to face the giant gift, "Well, open it, you have no idea how much I gave up to get that for you,"

Uncertainly, the girl reached out and slowly tore off the shiny paper, she peeked inside then ripped the rest off with curiosity. As the paper fell tot he ground she stared with awe at the shiny purple tricycle. A smile crept on to her face, then Aza completely gave up on the silent treatment, she wrapped her arms around Kakuzu and grinned with excitement, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The brunette didn't know what to do, he hesitated before slowly placing his arms around the young girl, to whom he'd grown quite attached.

-x-

"Ok, you just have to move the pedals and keep the steering straight," Kakuzu said as he helped Aza on to the tricycle.

"Ummm... ok... but I'm kinda... you know... scared..." The girl confessed.

"It's ok, "The brunette assured her, "I'll be holding on to the seat the whole time until you get the hang of it,"

Aza nodded and moved her feet to pedal her new bike, she watched carefully as it started to move forward, Kakuzu staying beside her, walking along while holding tightly to help her. As she slowly started to get the hang of riding she laughed while picking up speed, the brunette running along said her, they both headed down the dirt path as the five year old gained more courage.

"You can let go now, daddy- I mean, Uncle Zuzu," Aza quickly recovered from her accidental slip of words, and out of shock Kakuzu let go of the seat and stood, gaping at what he heard the young girl call him.

The miser watched as his little Aza rode around on her purple bike, laughing and calling out in delight. But then she accidentally turned too quickly and the tire skidded and the tricycle fell to the side, Aza being thrown to the ground.

"Aza!" Kakuzu ran to help Aza up, "Are you ok?" He lifted her off the ground and made sure she wasn't hurt too bad.

"I'm fine," She confirmed, "Ow!" Aza put her hand on her knee and winced, she then looked at the palm of her hand only to see a scrape going from her hand, down her arm and to her elbow.

"C'mon, let's get you cleaned up," The brunette led the girl inside and sat her on the bed, he then checked her knee, there was a huge scrape and some blood, but it wasn't too bad.

After tending to Aza's small injuries, Kakuzu tucked her into bed, of course she didn't have her own bed, so she had to sleep in the only available bed. Zeotora's.

The brunette pulled the covers over Aza's small, frail body and stroked her hair gently, he then said goodnight and left, leaving the door open just a bit to let in a tiny bit of light.

Soon after, Kakuzu decided it was time that he too hit the hay, he climbed into his own bed and thought over the words that Aza had spoken. _"You can see her if you try hard enough..."_

It seemed like a few seconds, but it was actually it was roughly about an hour and a half later when the door slowly creaked open, "C..can I sleep wi..with you..."

The choked, sniffling voice of a tearful Aza caught Kakuzu's attention immediately.

"Uhhh... sure, what happened?" The brunette asked while sliding over to make more room for the girl.

"I k..keep seeing Auntie Zeo d..dying... over... and over again..." Aza walked over to her 'uncle's' bed and climbed in. Kakuzu put his arms around the trembling young girl and held her to his chest as he pulled the blanket over them both, "Don't cry... I hate to see you crying," The brunette gently placed a hesitant kiss on the top of Aza's head, "Your Auntie Zeo would want you to be strong for her,"

Aza eventually calmed down and buried her face in the crook of Kakuzu's neck, surrounding herself in his warmth and comfort. Both of them soon fell asleep, one blonde Kunoichi playing through both of their minds.

* * *

_17th December 1500AD_

Crispy white snow fell silently and gracefully upon a frosty field, snow covered trees surrounded an empty landscape, enclosing nothing but the wintry grass of early December. Icy wind whipped across the dull sky as howls echoed in the distance. Fog lightly settled in the air, masking the robins that jumped about joyfully in this, almost, empty scene.

An elegant figure slowly crossed through the winter wonderland as the colourless crunched beneath her bare feet.

Her creamy blonde hair fell loosely at her shoulders, the slight waves framing her pale face. She wore a golden gown with a tight, white corset hugging her figure beautifully while matching her long, white, silk gloves and the creamy pattern across the skirt of her expensive gown. The girl's wavy bangs were tucked behind her left ear, though the rest carelessly fell over her face, partially covering the light pink blusher that was dusted across her cheeks. She wore red lipstick on her lips and the dark eye shadow and eyeliner only made her eyes seem an icier shade of blue.

The young woman held her skirt up as she trod through the snow, her feet red raw from the cold.

"M'lady! Wait!" A slightly younger girl came running through the tress and towards the fair haired female. This girl had jet black hair tied into a messy bun, a few strands of hair falling over her forehead. The dress she wore was plain, dark blue with no pattern and just a normal black waistcoat. She wore no makeup to compliment her young, pretty face, though she carried in her arms a few things that she tried not to drop as she approached her mistress, "Here, you shouldn't be out here in the cold like this," The young girl passed a pair of delicate, gold shoes to the older female.

She slipped on the small shoes and set her skirt down, she then took the shoal from her maid and wrapped it around her own shoulders, the maid making sure it was on properly.

"Thank you, Kada," The older of the two said as she checked herself over.

"You're welcome, M'lady," Kada smiled kindly, "I'll be going now, do have fun," She then bowed and headed back through the trees, out of sight.

"Deep breaths... deep breaths... be calm..." The fair-haired beauty whispered to herself as she crossed over the field and through a small path, hidden by the frosty winter trees.

It was just as she walked out into the small clearing that she heard the sweet music of an old guitar playing a sweet melody. Sat there on a fallen tree trunk, a tall male with messy, brown hair and tanned skin sang to himself with a deep, yet beautiful voice, while playing his guitar.

"_This time, this place, misused, mistakes  
__Too long, too late  
__Who was I to make you wait?  
__Just one chance, just one breath  
__Just in case there's just one left  
_'_Cause you know, you know, you know,"_

The brunette watched what he was doing carefully as he sang with such emotion, it made the girl's heart begin to flutter.

"_That I love you, I've loved you all along  
__And I miss you, been far away for far too long  
__I keep dreaming, you'll be with me  
__And you'll never go  
__Stop breathing, if I don't see you anymore,"_

A smile crept on to the young woman's face as she slowly stepped forward, the snow crunching below her feet, the man quickly turned to see who it was, he smiled as he recognised the girl, he then continued playing.

"_On my knees, I'll ask  
__Last chance for one last dance  
_'_Cause with you, I'd withstand  
__All of hell to hold your hand  
__I'd give it all, I'd give for us  
__Give anything but I won't give up  
_'_Cause you know, you know, you know,"_

Both the blushing girl and the singing male smiled as it reached the chorus of the emotion-filled song.

"_That I love you, I've loved you all along  
__And I miss you, been far away for far too long  
__I keep dreaming, you'll be with me  
__And you'll never go  
__Stop breathing, if I don't see you anymore,"_

The girl giggled slightly as the blush darkened, she got lost in the male's amazing eyes, they were lime green but when the light shone at just the right angle, there was a slight shine of red.

"_Been far away for far too long  
__But you know, you know, you know  
__That I wanted, I wanted you to stay  
_'_Cause I needed  
__I need to hear you say  
__That I love you, I've loved you all along  
__And I forgive you  
__For being away for far too long  
__So keep breathing, 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore  
__Believe it, hold on to me, never let me go  
__Keep breathing, 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore  
__Believe it, hold on to me, never let me go  
__Hold on to me, never let me go..."_

While giggling, the young woman clapped her hands and smiled. The brunette stood up, towering over the female, he smiled and leant down, placing a soft, tender kiss upon his lover's lips.

"I thought you weren't going to show up," He whispered as he pulled away.

"And miss the chance to spend time with you? Never," She replied.

"Well, now that you're here..." The male turned around and knelt down, he scooped up some snow in his hands and made a perfectly round ball. The girl's eyes widened, she lifted her skirt and ran as fast as she could away from the brunette.

THUD!

The snowball hit her arm, she laughed and bent down to make her own snowball, throwing it with as much force she could. The snow exploded as it hit the male in the side of the head.

"Oh, now you're doomed," The male scooped up some more snow and ran after his lover. She giggled as she started to run, "You can't run from me, Toura,"

"True, but I can still try!" Toura called as she continued to run, the snowball made contact with the back of her leg, she blew her bangs out of her face and turned to pick up another snowy weapon.

The snowball was lunged at the faster of the two, seeing that it had missed its target, Toura turned and started to run again, heading further out into the field, but the snow and fog masked the slight slope. She lost her footing and slipped, the brunette not far behind her, also slipped, they both went tumbling down the slope, landing in each other's arms at the bottom.

"Hahaha," Toura sat up and lifted her hair out of her view, "Once again, you get us covered in snow,"

"Oh, so it's my fault?" The brunette said while grinning.

"Yes, that's exactly my point, Mazuzu," Toura replied with a smile.

The two sat up and brushed the snow off their clothes. Mazuzu was wearing dark brown trousers and a dusty brown shirt, a black jacket and matching black boots. He put his arms around Toura and held her close, "I love you,"

"Hehe, I love you too," Toura then placed her hand on Mazuzu's chest and nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck. After dwelling in the perfect moment, Mazuzu lifted Toura into his arms and stood up, carrying his princess bridal style, he walked to a sheltered, warm place where they sat, talking and enjoying the little time they had together. But soon it started to get dark, and they both had to leave.

They walked hand in hand to where Mazuzu had left his guitar, there they shared one final kiss before walking in separate directions, heading back to their homes.

As Toura reached the gates to the castle, Kada came running out of the grand door, she took Toura up to her room to redo her hair and make-up. The blonde was sat on a stool, looking into a mirror as Kada brushed her wavy hair and started to put it back into a perfect bun, held in by jewelled clips and an amazingly beautiful, diamond butterfly that was tucked into the bun, making it appear to be a small tiara. After reapplying the rosy make-up and changing into more suitable clothes, consisting of a peach gown, with the skirt puffed out, the bottom gently gliding along the marble floors, a slightly darker pink corset pulled tightly, giving the impression of a tiny waist, small white silk gloves, this time only coming to her wrists and low cut blouse, showing off the slight bust that Toura had.

After slipping on a pair of small, uncomfortable shoes, Toura took a breath and left her room, she gracefully walked down the marble staircase and into the banquet hall where her older brother, Tokabu, and the King of Arieal were stood, engaging in conversations of plans for the future, including talks of knights, duels, quests and feasts.

"Ah, Lady Toura," The King turned and bowed his head ever so slightly. Toura, in turn, lifted her skirt just a tiny bit as she bowed in silence, "Your brother and I were just discussing how perfect my son would be for you," The blonde froze. _Wh..what..._

Toura's brother smirked with an evil glint in his dark eyes, the light reflecting off his round glasses. Tokabu had silver hair, it was always tied into a low ponytail, his bangs brushed out of his face neatly. He wore a clean, black suit, a bow tie and shiny black shoes.

The King was harsh and ignorant, though he didn't look it. He had black hair, mostly hidden by his gold crown, he had small eyes and crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, he never wore a smile but he gave of a friendly aura to anyone who didn't know exactly how evil he really was. The man was slightly on the chubby side and obviously wasn't capable of running or even walking fast, but no matter how hard anyone tried, you could never escape his evil ways.

Tonight was the night of the King's son, Prince Dion's, birthday and the location of the celebration just so happened to be... here.

Toura and Tokabu's parents were never actually in the castle, they were always away on business or public affairs, they very rarely even saw their children, so it was a special occasion when they spent the night in the castle, therefore, Toura and Tokabu were obliged to accept the request of their home being the party venue.

"Ah, glad to see you've decide to join us," The King walked over to the black-haired prince who had entered the room, he had the most amazing green eyes you have EVER seen, they were simply gorgeous and Toura had to admit that she could have easily fallen for him if she wasn't in love with Mazuzu.

After a few minutes the guests had started to arrive, each one being announced by the doorman. Within the hour, th banquet hall was almost completely filled with men and women dressed up in their best suits and gowns, all here to celebrate the prince's birthday.

Soon the music had begun to play and the hall was filled with high spirits, jokes and casual chat. Toura could hear all the laughing and music from where she was stood on the balcony. It was dark now and the stars were shining brightly beside the pale, full moon.

"Aren't you going to come inside?"

The blonde turned to see her brother walk out to stand with her, a soft smile graced Toura's cherry lips, "I thought I would get some fresh air and go inside when our parents arrive,"

Tokabu had genuine brotherly affection in his eyes as he looked up at the beautiful night sky and said, "I'm so envious of you, Toura,"

"Me? Why?" The blonde asked , slightly confused.

"Because... you're always so strong and you never seem to be worried about things that could cost you your life, for that, I am jealous," A line of tears began to build up in Tokabu's dark eyes, though he pushed them back.

"Brother, why all this all of a sudden? What's happened?" Toura gently placed a gloved hand on her older brother's shoulder.

"Mother and father... they... they're not coming home... ever... you see..."

Never before in her life had Toura seen Tokabu in such a terrible state, he was all choked up and he was fighting an impossible battle against the tears that were now cascading down his cheeks.

"You're parents are dead, Toura,"

Suddenly, the world seemed to stop completely, an almost audible rip echoed through Toura's disbelieving ears, an empty space suddenly burned into the girl's heart. _Please tell me that I heard that wrong... _but she heard all too clearly the cold words spoken by the handsome, dark-haired prince.

"Tokabu is to take the thrown and you, Toura, must be wed," Dion had a smirk across his devilishly gorgeous face as he spoke and Toura knew what he meant.

The, now orphaned, blonde closed her eyes to take a deep breath, she exhaled slowly and gently reopened her emotionless, icy blue eyes.

"Prince Dion, are you asking my hand in marriage?"

"Yes, I am,"

"Well, I'm afraid I must refu-" Toura was cut off by Dion's father, who had just stepped onto the balcony.

"You are in no place to refuse! Marry my son or see your family name shunned, dishonoured and your parents shown for what they really are, low-life assassins!"

Toura bit her tongue as another part of her heart shattered in that very moment, she loved Mazuzu with all her heart and she loved only him. But Tokabu was so very fragile right now, he wouldn't be able to deal with the shame and humiliation. For that reason, and that reason alone, Toura accepted Prince Dion's proposal.

The next day, Toura awoke with a stab of guilt, what would happen to Mazuzu?

Then it struck her that she was going to marry Dion, she was actually going to vow to spend the rest of her life with him, this was a nightmare!

Toura climbed out of bed and dressed herself in a dark green, velvet gown with gold lining and long cuff sleeves. She put on a pair of black shoes and a black, hooded shoal. The blonde left her hair loose and wavy as she ran from her room and out of the palace.

As Toura reached the lower town, she stopped to catch her breath, then continued walking slowly through the streets.

The female lifted her hand and knocked on the wooden door of a, less than perfect, cottage. After a few moments the door swung open, revealing the familiar Mazuzu.

"Toura? What are you doing here? Come in," The brunette stepped aside to let his lover in, then he closed the door and they both went into the small area designated as a sort of kitchen.

"I need to talk to you," Toura began.

"About what?"

"Well... we can't see each other anymore," It broke Toura's heart to say it and it broke Mazuzu's whole world to hear it.

"Wh..what? Why?"

"My parents are dead, Tokabu's in the thrown and I..." She swallowed hard, "I must marry Prince Dion,"

"Dion!" Mazuzu clenched his fists, "Why Dion? That stuck up, flirty, son of a warthog!" The brunette tried his hardest not to swear but it was obvious that he wanted to see the prince dead. It was true, Prince Dion had a reputation for flirting with every girl he comes across and he was very stuck up and proud of himself.

"Zuzu! Calm down!" Toura grabbed Mazuzu's arm and tried to ignore the sharp pain in her chest.

"How can I calm down! You're the most important person in the world to me! I just... I just don't know what I'll do if you're not in my life," The male used his hands to cover his face as he collapsed onto his knees, the pain in his heart not once subsiding.

"I love you with all my hear, you know that," Toura knelt down beside Mazuzu, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her, "And you know that my feelings fro you will never, ever change, " The blonde's calm words soothed the pain though neither of them wanted to separate.

"If only fate wasn't so cruel, if only our love wasn't forbidden, if only we had the chance to be together forever, if only..."

-x-

_24th December, Christmas Eve_

About a week later, early in the morning, Kada entered Toura's room to find her sat up in her bed, dwelling quietly upon her own thoughts.

"M'lady? Are you alright?" Kada asked gently as she closed the door behind her.

"Hmm?" Toura turned slowly, revealing her tired eyes, swollen from the crying of heartbreak, she hadn't slept all night and she wasn't particularly looking forward to today, "Yes, I'm fine," _Lie._

"You look awful, M'lady," The black haired girl rushed over and open up the curtains, putting down the gown she had been carrying, "Come, we must pretty you up for your wedding,"

With a groan of disapproval, Toura stood up and walked over to be prepared for the biggest mistake of her life.

Meanwhile, in a small, recognisable cottage Mazuzu stood alone in his room, staring into a dusty mirror, silently asking himself if he deserved such a beautiful young woman in the first place.

"I love her... that means I can let her go... no matter how much I don't want her to marry Prince Dion... I can let her go because it's what she needs to do... because she's selfless enough to think of her brother's well being before her own feelings... and I must respect her kind-heartedness... so, I guess I have to let her go..."

"Actually, you have no choice but to let her go because she's mine now,"

Mazuzu turned quickly, the dim light of an early winter morning only just showing the figure of Dion himself.

"What do you want?" Mazuzu spat, venom in his voice.

"Oh, nothing really..." Dion said mockingly as he ran a hand through his black hair, "I just wanted to say that if you so much as attempt to go near me and Toura's wedding, I'll have your head," The prince spoke calmly though it was not an empty threat, "Understood?"

"But-" The brunette had no time to complain as Dion had his hand wrapped around Mazuzu's neck in a flash.

"I said, understood?"

After a few agonisingly long, silent seconds of resistance, Mazuzu nodded his head slowly accepting the terms.

"Good," With a smirk of self-compliment, the prince let go and backed away from the brunette, he then disappeared out the door an into the wintry morning.

"Oh Toura... how could I ever let you go..."

-x-

Toura sat on a stool, Kada applying her makeup, covering up the blonde's swollen eyes, tear-stained cheeks and the tried bags under her emotion filled eyes. The black-haired maid fluffed Toura's fair hair, putting it neatly into a high, wavy ponytail, her bangs brushed neatly to the right and held in place with a small silver clip.

After sorting out her hair and makeup, Kada went to get Toura's wedding dress. The young maid came back carrying the pure white gown, the blonde frowned, trying to remember where she had seen it before.

With realization of recognition, a small smile of recalled memories crawled onto the beautiful girl's face as she remembered how perfect the gown looked when it was worn on the slim, delicate, frail figure of her mother.

_I was at the top and now it's like I'm in the basement  
__Number one spot but now she found her a replacement  
__I swear now I can't take it  
__Knowing somebody's got my baby_

Mazuzu sat by his window, watching the world go by, trying to keep himself from going stir crazy.

Oh, how he wanted to stop that wedding, but what would be the point? If he managed to get there on time and stop them from saying "I do" he would be killed before he even got anywhere near Toura.

_And now you ain't around, baby, I can't think  
__Should've put it down, should've got that ring  
__'Cause I can still feel it in the air  
__See her pretty face, run my fingers through her hair_

Then a thought crossed into the brunette's lonely mind. Without Toura around, it's pretty much the same as being dead, so then why would it matter if he got killed or not? Either way he would be as dead as dead can be.

If he let the wedding go ahead and he stayed away from Toura, his life would be completely pointless and he would want to be dead.

And if he tried to stop the wedding he would be able to see Toura one last time before he died, so did it really matter what he chose to do? He would end up dead anyway.

_My lover, my life, my shawty, my wife  
__She left me, I'm tied  
_'_Cause I knew that it just ain't right_

With a quick nod of determination, the brunette got up and raced out the door and though the streets. His destination...the palace.

_I was thinking 'bout her, thinking 'bout me  
__Thinking 'bout us, what we gonna be?  
__Open my eyes, yeah, it was only just a dream  
__So I travel back, down that road  
__Will she come back? No one knows  
__I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream_

Meanwhile, at the palace, Dion stood at the top of the aisle, waiting impatiently as the guests were shown to their seats on either side of the large room. After a long, boring wait, the large wooden doors opened up to reveal the beautiful Lady Toura.

_When I be riding, man, I swear I see her face at every turn  
__Trying to get my usher on, but I can't let it burn  
__And I just hope that she notice she the only one I yearn for  
__Oh, I miss her, when will I learn?  
__Didn't give her all my love, I guess now I got my payback  
__Now I'm in the club, thinking all about my baby  
__Hey, she was so easy to love  
__But wait, I guess love wasn't enough_

Everyone turned to see how the young woman almost literally glowed with beauty, her long, wavy hair dangling by her bare shoulders. The gloriously dazzling material of the beautiful gown sat so perfectly against Toura's pale skin, the long skirt gliding along the marble floor, the amazingly, slim-fitting corset-like waist fitted perfectly around the blonde's slim hips. Even the flirty, never-stick-with-one-girl, Dion had to admit she was extremely beautiful.

_I'm going through it every time that I'm alone  
__And now I'm missing, wishing she'd pick up the phone  
__She made a decision that she wanted to move on  
_'_Cause I was wrong_

The determined brunette ran as fast as he could in the direction of the palace, not once stopping for a break, even though his legs were aching and the more he ran the more it hurt to breathe. Mazuzu promise himself he wouldn't give up, he would rather have tried and failed than sit on his backside doing nothing, slowly rotting away with regret.

Running from the lower town all the way to the palace had to be the last thing Mazuzu imagined himself doing before he died, but he would do anything and everything for Toura. And the last thing he wanted was for her to marry that selfish pig, Dion.

_I was thinking 'bout her, thinking 'bout me  
__Thinking 'bout us, what we gonna be?  
__Open my eyes, yeah, it was only just a dream  
__So I travel back, down that road  
__Will she come back? No one knows  
__I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream_

As Toura walked down that aisle, all the memories she shared with Mazuzu flashed before her eyes, vanishing into the depths of her broken heart where no one would ever be able find them.

With a deep breath, she held her head high and repeated in her mind how she was doing this for her brother and to keep the family name from being shamed and dishonoured. The blonde masked herself with an expressionless, icy daze, not letting anyone see the pain deep inside, she turned to face Dion and a sickly feeling in her stomach began to churn though Toura was far too strong to let it show.

_If you ever loved somebody put your hands up  
__If you ever loved somebody put your hands up  
__And now they're gone and you wish you could give them everything  
__I said, if you ever loved somebody put your hands up  
__If you ever loved somebody put your hand sup  
__And now they're gone and you wish you could give them everything_

Face-to-face, Dion and Toura stood as they spoke their vows and began being forever bound as one. That's when the doors flung open, sending a loud, echoing boom through the hall.

"STOP!"

All eyes turned to the brunette who stood, pumped up with adrenalin and pushed on by the strong beating of his, still in love, heart.

"Mazuzu..." Toura couldn't believe what was happening, she could barely think as Dion growled and shouted to the guards.

"Security! Restrain him!"

As ordered, the guards charged at Mazuzu, forcing him onto his knees with his hands held behind his back.

"Toura can't marry him!" The brunette shouted.

"Oh, yes she can," Dion corrected.

"But she can't marry you if you're dead!"

"What?" The prince narrowed his eyes, then smirked and asked mockingly, "I am clearly not dead, so, what do you mean?"

Mazuzu calmly spoke his reply, so everyone could hear, "The punishment for murder is death,"

Everyone silenced.

"Mazuzu..." The soft voice of Toura half whispered, "What are you talking about?"

After a moment of hesitance, the brunette replied, "You may not want to hear it and neither do I wish to be the one to tell you, but... Dion is responsible for your parents' deaths,"

A gasp echoed through the silence, Dion's father was immediately outraged, "How DARE you accuse my son of such crimes!" The anger was almost literally visible in the king's eyes, "Have him executed at dawn!"

A small smirk appeared on Dion's face, but a devastated expression haunted Toura's face, "You CAN'T!" The girl half screamed, her throat sore from all the crying late last night, "YOU JUST CAN'T!"

The guards began pulling at Mazuzu, trying to drag him from the hall, but his eyes would not leave Toura, an apologetic gaze as his final goodbye. The blonde couldn't hold herself back, she lifted her skirt, to allow more movement, and went to run over to Mazuzu, but Dion grabbed her by the wrist before she had the chance to get to him, "Control yourself, Toura,"

"Let me go!" The shorter, weaker Toura tried her hardest to make the prince release her but to no luck, "Please! You can't let them kill him!"

A slight chuckle escaped Dion's lips, "Just watch me..."

-x-

That night, Toura sat up in bed as her sleeping husband lay beside her, snoring his head off. The wedding had gone ahead as planned after Mazuzu was taken to the dungeons. Though Toura could not bring herself to sleep or do anything else for that matter.

Silently, Toura carefully climbed out of bed. She picked up and lamp and crept out of the room, quietly making her way down to the dungeons.

"Zuzu?" The blonde looked into each cell, looking for her once lover, "Where are you?"

"Huh? Toura?"

"Mazuzu!" The blue-eyed young woman ran over and knelt down by the brunette, she reached her hand through the rusty, iron bars to hold his hand.

"What are you doing down here? You could get in trouble,"

"I know, but you got in trouble for showing up at the wedding... it was probably the stupidest thing you've ever done..."

"Yeah, the stupidest and the bravest,"

"True, very true..." Toura smiled softly and ran her hand through Mazuzu's brown hair, "Zuzu... there's something that's been eating away at me..."

"Hmm? What is it?" The brunette tilted his head to the side, admiring the beauty of the person he held dear.

"You said that Dion was the one responsible for my mother and father being dead... I want to know how..."

"Well..." Mazuzu scratched his head and tried to think of the easiest way to say it, "The day before Dion's birthday, he and his father, the king, came to me and they asked for a sword... so I gave them the finest sword I had, perfectly balanced, a gold handle with their family seal engraved in one of the jewels, but they didn't seem to notice the details,"

Toura blinked, listening to every word Mazuzu was saying, one because she wanted to know how Dion and the early death of her parents were related and two, because it may be the last time she ever heard Mazuzu's voice.

"I didn't pay much attention to their hastiness but then a day or two after the party, the undertakers came to me saying that the weapon used to killed your parents was found near their bodies... it was a sword..."

"No..." Toura muttered to herself.

"A perfectly balanced sword with a gold handle... and a family seal engraved in one of the jewels..." The brunette shook his head while frowning, "I should have noticed sooner... I'm so foolish..."

"So..." Toura frowned herself, thinking, "That means... I'm married to the person who killed my parents...?"

Mazuzu nodded slowly, he gently took the blonde's hand in his own, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"That bastard!" Toura clenched her teeth, her rage over flowing, "He's going to pay for this..." And with a scowl, Toura stood up and stormed up to her, now shared, room.

-x-

_25th December, Christmas Morning_

The sound of the drums beating steadily echoed through the courtyard, a huge group of people all crowed round the area where two people where now being marched up to, to be executed. They both were in chains and had their heads lowered as they stood before the two nooses.

"Mazuzu Kokuren, charged for accusation of a member of the royal family and for unlawfully gate crashing in on a royal wedding,"

Said brunette lifted his head slowly, looking round at all the eyes of the townspeople who had shown up to watch the execution.

"Toura Kushi, charged for the murder of Prince Dion Uwaki-sha and King Kúin Uwaki-sha,"

The blonde blinked slowly as she turned to smile softly at Mazuzu, who, in return, smiled back.

"Both are sentenced to be hung until dead,"

The drums began to speed up as the nooses were placed around the two criminals' necks, both smiling childishly at their crimes, they reached over and held each others' hand one final time.

"My heart only beats with yours, it will stop when yours does too,"

"See you in the afterlife, Zuzu, my love..."

Suddenly, the drums stopped, the floor from under the two criminals' feet disappeared and two lovers hung side-by-side.

"_If only fate wasn't so cruel, if only our love wasn't forbidden, if only we had the chance to be together forever, if only..."_

_**A/N**_

_***sniffle* So sad...**_

_**Well, I was kinda hoping for a more cheery chapter since it is Christmas.. oh well, I think it turned out ok...**_

_**And you people better be grateful for this chapter as well! Because I completely forgot about it for a while because of my Winter Exams and just the other day I remembered, then I got this HUGE and I mean HUGE writer's block! And to be honest I'm writing this at 6am ON CHRISTMAS EVE! I stayed up all night and I've been spending all my time thinking while I was meant to go Christmas shopping!**_

_**And it doesn't help that I twisted my wrist the other day when I fell... ok, I'm gonna shut up now...**_

_**Well, the first song was Far Away by Nickelback and the second song was Just A Dream by Nelly.**_

_**Don't ask me why, but whenever I hear those songs I get unexplainable butterflies, it's really weird... but I love those songs so much and I thought they kinda fitted.**_

_**Oh yeah, and I now you guys are probably smart enough to have figured it out but just in case..**_

_**Toura = Zeotora  
**__**Mazuzu = Kakuzu  
**__**Kada = Aza  
**__**Tokabu = Kabuto  
**__**Dion = Dinto**_

_**Well, that pretty much sums it up... I guess I better get some sleep... Merry Christmas everyone!**_

_**(P.S - I know this is completely irrelevant but this chapter is 10 PAGES LONG! I'm so proud of myself! *does victory dance* Woop! Woop!)**_

_**xoxoxChelly. Go. Luckyxoxox**_


	7. It Just Gets Worse And Worse

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Hey guys, I know I haven't published anything in FOREVER! But I have been writing everything down on paper, all I really need to do is type it up and upload it to Fanfiction, so here's the long awaited (and I mean LONG awaited) chapter 7.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**Oh and I can't remember if I told you guys already or not, but there's a bit of a time skip between the last chapter and this one.**_

**Chapter 7 – It Just Gets Worse And Worse**

Kakuzu's heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway of the new base, he looked left and right, searching high and low for a certain young girl. "Hey, have you seen Aza anywhere?" He asked Deidara; who was sat on the couch, perfecting his art.

"Nope, sorry –un," The blond replied, not looking up.

The brunet turned and went over to Hidan in the kitchen, "I don't suppose you've seen Aza lately, have you?"

"Hm…" The Jashinist thought for a moment before answering, "No, I haven't," Kakuzu groaned and after asking Tobi, Pein, Zetsu and double checking with everyone, he went to check all the rooms and places the girl in question could be hiding.

"Argh, where the hell is she?" The brunet thought out loud.

"BOO!"

After yelling in fright, Kakuzu fell back and landed, with a thump, on the ground. Aza was leaning through the 'Secret' door in the ceiling, her long black hair dangled down with a slight waviness and a look of restrained laughter was on her teenage face. "You should see the look on your face! Haha!" Aza said as she moved some of her hair out of her face.

"Don't do that, I'm too old for messing around and how can you see the look on my face? I'm wearing my mask," The miser said as he climbed to his feet and dusted himself off.

"I can tell by the look in your eyes, and it's not my fault you're prone to heart attacks," The teen replied with a rebellious tone in her mature voice.

"Oh, Haha, very funny," Kakuzu said sarcastically, "Get down from there, you've still got to finish your work," He stated firmly.

"Yes, _DAD_," Aza unwillingly did as she was told, jumping down and landing on her feet, in front of her unofficial guardian.

"Hey! What's with the attitude?" Kakuzu said seriously, disliking the lack of respect from the 14 year old girl.

"What attitude?" The teen asked, the pitch of her voice rising slightly.

"That attitude!" The brunet returned, his voice also rising, "Look, just stop complaining and go finish your work," Aza didn't reply, she just folded her arms and looked to the side, away from Kakuzu, "Oh c'mon Aza! You're not 5 anymore! It's not like I'm telling you to go kill somebody!"

"I'd much rather kill somebody than do anymore stupid Algebra!" The teen shouted, looking straight into Kakuzu's eyes, _She means business…_, "I don't like or need Maths! It's bad enough with just normal sums, but when you add in letters and values and equations, it's a whole lot worse! I've told you a thousand times or more that I never want to have anything to do with maths in the future!"

"I'm just trying to give you a proper education!"

"Yeah, well, all you've taught me in 9 years is stupid, friggin' MATHS!" The blood wood eyed girl almost screamed before she stamped her foot down then retreated through the small door in the ceiling, slamming it shut.

_Oh great… now she's pissed off… _Kakuzu thought as he looked down at the huge dent in the ground where it had been abused by Aza's foot. A few seconds later, the door opened and a huge pile of Algebra and other Maths books were thrown down viciously, the door slamming shut again after.

An almost silent sigh escaped Kakuzu's tanned lips, he knelt down slowly, though it was getting harder to manuver due to his age. He started to pick up the books, ignoring the pain in his back.

Just at that moment, Hidan turned the corner and saw Kakuzu collecting the scattered books, he was about to laugh and make fun of the senior but then he saw how much pain the man was in. "What are you doing, Kakuzu?" The albino asked, trying to sound as genuinely kind as possible.

"Aza's being a pain again," Kakuzu said as he sat back, taking the weight off his feet for a minute.

The old Hidan probably would have laughed at the situation and made more work for his partner but after everything that had happened the Jashinist had matured a bit and sort of understood Kakuzu's pain. The brunet was roughly about 108 years old, he had gone through such terrible heartbreak and now he was stuck looking after a stroppy teenager.

"Here, let me," Hidan offered, kneeling down to help.

"No, I can do it myself," Kakuzu protested, not willing to accept help just yet.

"I'm just trying to be nice,"

"Yeah, well last time you did that, you ended up snogging Zeotora!" The brunet snapped, leaving Hidan silent in shock.

"He did WHAT?" Deidara practically screamed, he had overheard what Kakuzu said and couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"He kissed Zeotora! The same night we watched that movie and you and Zeotora fell asleep on the couch!"

Deidara's jaw almost hit the ground, "So that's why she seemed really guilty the next day! –un,"

"It wasn't like that-" Hidan argued.

"How could you? –un,"

"It wasn't meant to happen like that!"

"We all know it was your plan all along!"

"You bastard! –un,"

"Shut the hell up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No! You! –un"

"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Aza shouted at the top of her lungs, making the three men shut up instantly, "JUST STOP FIGHTING ALREADY! WE ALL KNOW THAT NONE OF YOU HAVE ANY RIGHT TO FIGHT OVER ZEO!" The teenage girl turned to Deidara, "You only THOUGHT you loved her because she remind you of Sasori!" The blond bit the inside of his lip as he looked down at the ground, Aza then turned to Hidan, "Admit it, you only kissed Zeo because you never knew what it was like to have a best friend and you wanted to hurt Kakuzu because you were jealous!" The Jashinist scratched the back of his head and looked away in embarrassment.

Aza's eyes flashed with rage as she turned to glare at Kakuzu, "And you… you're always bragging to yourself about kissing Zeo five or six times when two times were against her will, once was when she was friggin' DYING and three times were in your own DIRTY FRIGGIN' IMAGINATION!"

"How the hell do you know about that?" The brunet asked.

"I was there! I saw the look in your eyes!" Aza spoke to all of them in a disgusted voice, "YOU'RE ALL PATHETIC!" After making her point perfectly clear, Aza stormed out of the base and into the night.

She soon reached a mountain side, the teen placed her hand on the rock face and sent all her chakra into the rock, it then slid slowly to the side, revealing a tunnel. Aza closed her eyes and walked into the pitch black tunnel, the rock slowly slid back into its original place, closing the entrance to the passageway.

Here… Aza knew she was safe…

*~To Be Continued~*

_**A/N**_

_**Well, that's chapter 7 typed up and posted, the next chapter will be posted ASAP, I'm planning on typing nonstop today, so hopefully you'll have some more to read soon.**_

_**Don't forget to review and thanks for reading!**_

_**Laterz XP**_

_**.LuckyxoX**_


	8. Daddy's Little Girl

_**Author's Notes**_

'_**Sup, I told ya I'd write up the next chapter really soon**_

_**Anyway, I'll not keep you back too long, just gonna say that I put some lyrics in there, the lyrics are also linked to the Christmas Special, you'll know what I mean when you read it.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 8 – Daddy's Little Girl**

Aza stayed in her safe place, a candle lit cave in the side of a mountain, all night. It was now early morning, Aza walked back and forth in the Memory Room trying to think back to when she never met Kakuzu or Zeotora, but the last thing she actually remembered was the moment Zeotora died.

The Memory room was where she spent most of her time, thinking. It was an oval shaped room, lined with boxes of keepsakes and pictures of the past, and of course, there was a section filled with everything that Zeotora left behind, including the stuff from Orochimaru's lair because Aza had snuck in one time and taken everything from Zeotora's room.

The black haired girl sat by one of the boxes and dug through it, reminding herself of all the good things her Auntie Zeo had done, blocking out all the bad things.

And you're probably confused now because I said 'The last thing she actually remembered was the moment Zeotora died' but that doesn't mean didn't know everything that happened/ It was simple really, Kakuzu never talked about Zeotora much but _she_ told Aza herself.

That's right, Aza had a special gift, she could see and hear Zeotora's spirit. Sometimes it seemed so real that Aza would talk back but she told herself that it was all in her head.

"…_Aza…"_

The teen froze, she usually didn't believe in ghosts but it was that hollow, echo of a voice that called out to her. She turned slowly and carefully blew out the candle, engulfing the cave in darkness.

Only then could she see the outline of a much loved and missed Kunoichi, her hair was all tattered and blood was splattered on her almost see-through face.

"…_what's wrong… you seem… upset…"_

"Ah, it's nothing, I just shouted at Zuzu, Slick and Dei Dei…" Aza said calmly, her blood wood eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

Zeotora's spirit raised an eyebrow, _"…why?..."_

"Uh…" The teen shuffled her feet slightly, "Well, they were fighting about the time you and Slick kissed… and then they were all complaining about which one of them loved you more, and I was already in a bad mood so, yeah…" Before Zeotora could say anything in response, Zetsu appeared out of the wall.

"Aza, come quick!"

She folded her arms, "I'm not going back, ssht,"

"But it's Kakuzu, he's-"

"I don't care!"

"**Oh shut up and go back, he's dying!"**

Aza could feel her heart sink, "…no…" she turned quickly, placing her hand on the wall, leaving it open as she ran as fast as she could towards the base.

Zetsu sped on ahead, Aza following behind, her legs racing as fast as her heart was. If she had seen this coming, she would have never ran away to her safe place. As Aza ran through the moonlight landscape, she could suddenly picture Zeotora running alongside her, her pale blonde hair dancing in the wind and her icy blue eyes dazzling in the darkness. The image seemed to make their journey, to the hideout, a whole lot shorter and they arrived shortly after Zeotora's spirit disappeared.

Aza panted heavily, out of breath as she skidded along the corridors, stopping suddenly as the sight of her 'Uncle' made the world turn silent.

_Wind blowing on my face, sidewalk flying beneath my bike  
A five year olds first taste of what freedom's really like  
He was running right beside, his hand holding on the seat  
I took a deep breath and hollered as I headed for the street_

She could hear nothing but the thump of her own heartbeat. Aza slowly stepped forward, then fell to her knees beside Kakuzu, he was sat up against the wall, a few feet from his room, the life was draining out of him but he was holding on with all his might.

_You can let go now daddy, you can let go, I think I'm ready to do this on my own  
It's still a little bit scary but want you to know  
I'll be okay now Daddy, you can let go_

The black haired girl reached over and pulled Kakuzu's mask off, dropping it on the ground, her blood wood eyes still focused on his tired face.

_It was killing me to see the strongest man I ever knew  
Wasting away to nothing in that hospital room  
You know he's only hanging on for you, that's what the night nurse said  
My voice and heart were breaking as I crawled up in his bed  
And said…_

Hidan gently placed a hand on Aza's shoulder and, just as gently, said, "His time's up, no matter how many hearts he has, his body can't hold out… sorry…" Aza saw that Hidan was right but she also saw how hard Kakuzu was trying to stay alive, she couldn't bear to see him like this so she placed a hand on his chest and laid her head on his, then began to sing gently, almost as a whisper, "_You can let go now Daddy, you can let go, your little girl is ready to do this on her own, it's gonna be a little bit scary, but I want you to know, I'll be okay now Daddy, you can let go…"_

Aza sang softer as she felt Kakuzu's heartbeat fade beneath her fingertips, she gently placed a soft kiss on his head as he slipped into eternal sleep. The teen hugged the man that she came to see as the only real father figure in her life, she then stood slowly whilst lifting the mask in one hand. She did not cry, she wasn't raised that way, so she stood tall and said goodbye in her head the slowly left, heading back to her safe place in the mountains, this time walking calmly instead of running.

-x-

When the teen reached her hideout she didn't spend her time in the Memory Room, she simply placed the mask on one of the boxes then went into a different room that was lined with piles of books. Aza sat down and pulled over three books, one was like a small, brown journal, another was thick like a giant dictionary or thesaurus, whilst the last book seemed like a workbook.

She flicked through the journal and gazed at a page for a few seconds before turning to a clean page in the workbook and a filled page of advanced Algebra in the thick book. Aza picked up a pencil and silently began working out the many sums she had been set to do for homework.

"_Happy birthday!"_

_Aza was shocked when she walked into the room to find a surprise party waiting for her, "How'd you know it was my birthday?" The six year old asked, slightly confused._

"_Well…" Hidan lifted the young girl and put her on his shoulders, "We just know these things… but actually it was Kakuzu's idea,"_

"_Really?" Aza asked, her eyes sparkling._

"_That's right, baby!" Hidan laughed._

_The girl though for a second, "Thanks!" She paused, "…Baby!"_

The fourteen year old smiled at the memory; the speech pattern had stuck with her up until her teens. Aza closed her eyes lightly with memories of Zeotora and Kakuzu flooding her young, yet mature, mind. She suddenly felt Zeotora appear behind her and pace her hands on either side of Aza's head, bringing the image of everything Orochimaru had done to them.

Aza remembered him from when the blonde had died. His snake-like demeanour, his poisonous smirk and deadly eyes… how could she forget the man that tore Zeotora apart?

Her blood wood eyes snapped open, engulfing the entire study room in flames, burning everything to ashes in an instant, even the books in her hands. Aza's hollow eyes flashed and the giant flames turned an almost transparent blue with violet flames under the teen's feet.

Aza clenched her fists and screamed, "BOODY MURDERER!" then suddenly the fire died down into her eyes, steam dusting over her skin, she breathed heavily, "I _WILL_ kill you… Orochimaru…"

*~To Be Continued~*

_**A/N**_

_**Ok, so that's chapter 8 finished as well, I hope you all like how things are turning out since Zeotora died, because I've sorta been stumped for ideas.**_

_**Anyway, the song was You Can Let Go Now Daddy by Crystal Shawanda**_

_**I'm in love with that song and it makes me all teary eyed.**_

_**Thanks for reading and please review. I'm most likely to post chapter 9 today as well, so laterz! XP**_

_**XoxChelly. Go. LuckyxoX**_


	9. ATTENTION READERS

******ATTENTION FOLLOWERS******

THIS STORY WAS DISCONTINUED LAST YEAR.

AS AN ACT OF LOYALTY TO MY READERS, AND TO CLEAR UP SOME THINGS THAT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE IN THE STORY.

I AM CURRENTLY (AS YOU ARE READING THIS) WRITING THE FINAL CHAPTERS TO THE "UNEXPECTED" SERIES.

THE TWO-PART GRAND FINALE OF THIS THREE BOOK SERIES SHALL BE POSTED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

TELL EVERYONE AND ANYONE WHO READS OR HAS READ THIS SERIES IN THE PAST.

(A WORD OF WARNING, THE FINAL CHAPTERS MAY END UP PACKED WITH IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT WAS MEANT TO BE SLOWLY DRAGGED OUT, BUT SEEING AS THIS STORY HAS JUST BEEN SAT HERE, NOT GOING ANYWHERE, EVERYTHING WILL BE REVEALED IN THE FINAL TWO CHAPTERS.)

PLEASE BE PATIENT MY DEAR READERS, AND I HOPE YOU ARE PLEASED WITH THE FINAL OUTCOME: THE FINAL ENDING.. OF UNEXPECTED BONDS, UNEXPECTED CURSES, AND UNEXPECTED TWIST...

_**xoxoxChelly. Go. Luckyxoxox**_


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